Brian Jeffrey
In recent times, there has been a significant rise in bank fraud incidents. A prevalent method involves convincing individuals to click on dubious links or encouraging them to download malicious apps.
These apps often carry malware capable of accessing personal information, reading OTP messages, and facilitating unauthorized funds transfers from users’ accounts.
Experts in banking have revealed that this method allows fraudsters to acquire sensitive information in a way that can catch victims off guard.
For example, a woman named A, who works in an office in Hanoi, recently fell victim to such a scheme. While at lunch with colleagues, she received a phone call from someone claiming to be a delivery person. He stated that he had a package for her that required a shipping fee of VND20,000.
He also sent her a QR Code to enable her to pay the shipping fee directly to his bank account. Just a few minutes after she made the transfer, he called back, saying he had sent the wrong code.
The man explained that the QR Code she used was actually for a yearly shipping service subscription worth VND24 million, which would result in monthly charges of VND2 million from her account.
He pleaded for her assistance in canceling the deal, claiming he was unable to do it himself and warned that failure to act within 30 minutes would mean he would bear the financial loss.
“I didn’t realize that by following his instructions, I was inadvertently authorizing a transfer of VND23 million from my account,” A recounted.
The Authority of Information Security (AIS) reported that there were 16,000 online scam complaints in 2023, with 91% stemming from impersonation and phishing incidents related to banking and finance.
Fraud techniques are becoming increasingly complex, not only through the theft of identity and financial data on falsified platforms but also by installing malware on users’ devices, which can simultaneously capture data and hijack those devices.
In response to these threats, Military Bank has introduced a new feature in its MBBank App that automatically detects potential security breaches and alerts customers if their devices are compromised.
