Impersonating a lawyer to 'recover money from online tasks'

Thanh Huong, 22 years old in Binh Duong, said that after contacting Facebook with the name “lawyer Tran Huy” to ask for help getting her money back, she was instructed to switch to messaging on the Telegram application. This person asked for some information such as where to get the service, how much it cost, if there is an invoice, then asked to provide personal information such as full name, CCCD number, phone number, bank account number. goods to check.

Due to insecurity, Huong sent fake information with the name “Thanh Nha” to check. Just a few minutes later, the person claiming to be a lawyer said he saw her suspended money on the system. This person attached a screenshot of the website with the logo of the Ministry of Finance and information related to the victim, claiming that the lost money can be recovered within 10-30 minutes after being “disbursed”.

To receive money back, users need to complete an order code, by transferring 1.5 million VND to the service provider’s account. In addition to the duty fee, they also need to divide 5% of the recovered amount to the “lawyer”.

“As long as the transfer is successful, the system will activate the disbursement. Surely the completion rate is 100%. I have worked in this profession for many years. If there is a risk and the money does not come back, the activation fee will be tripled. active”, the supplier affirmed and enclosed the lawyer’s diploma, citizen identification card, and practicing certificate.

When she saw that the information provided was wrong but was still told that the result was a match, Huong realized that this was a fraudulent service so she did not transfer money as requested.

According to Mr. Mai Thanh Phu, an expert on social networking services, there have been victims who lost hundreds of millions of dong and were warned, but many people are still gullible and are lured into participating in ” working as collaborators ” and ” doing tasks. ” online “, especially at the end of the year and around Tet. After being scammed, most people seek support to get their lost money back. Taking advantage of this psychology, bad guys impersonated Facebook lawyers and law offices to trick victims a second time. Many accounts even run ads to increase user reach.

“The common behavior of this group is to use images and personal information of famous lawyers, and post ads for suspended money disbursement services. These are all newly established channels or renamed from accounts that were hacked. steal, then edit the content, posting time, buy fake interactions to create credibility,” Mr. Phu said.

Lawyer Le Ngoc Luan, who had many fake accounts, had to continuously post warnings and corrections after some people directly came to the office to report being scammed money by fake Facebook accounts. “Some people lost 15 million VND, many people lost 75 million VND. I sent a report to Facebook but received a response that the fake account was not a scam. Bad guys even changed photos and information continuously to lure users.” , Mr. Luan said.

Previously, responding to VnExpress about the problem of impersonated advertising, Facebook said: “To keep people and businesses safe in the process of buying, selling, advertising and creating on Facebook, we have set out strict rules to protect people and businesses in the process of buying, selling, advertising and creating on Facebook. policy prohibits content that violates the rights of others, including the sale or promotion of counterfeit products.”

A Facebook representative said that the platform has an automatic ad review system and a team of experts working 24/7 to support reviewing reported content and removing content or disabling offending accounts. “If the report is complete and valid, the team will quickly remove the reported content, usually within one day after we receive the report,” a Facebook representative said.

However, both Huong and lawyer Ngoc said they had repeatedly called on the community and sent reports to Facebook themselves, but the fake account was still not handled.

Lawyer Ha Hai of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association said: “Impersonating a lawyer or law office to commit fraud is a violation of the law and can be prosecuted for criminal liability under different crimes. depending on the level and consequences, including crimes of fraudulent appropriation of property; crimes of falsifying documents of agencies and organizations; crimes of abusing positions and powers while performing official duties.”

According to lawyer Ha Hai, users should be cautious when interacting with strangers online, especially people claiming to be lawyers, police officers, bank employees… and requesting money transfers. Before trading, users should also check information about lawyers, law offices, authorities and contact the bank if there are any suspicious issues.

“Scam groups currently operate very professionally and methodically. When the victim falls into the trap, they will continue to find ways for the victim to pay as much money as possible. Therefore, being promised money or helping Getting your money back is absolutely impossible,” advised expert Nguyen Hong Hao of the Anti-Fraud Project.

Anh Tho