Be careful texting the syntax **21*#, lose money

According to a representative of Vinaphone network operator, recently, there has been a phenomenon of criminals taking advantage of the call redirection feature of the network operator to steal OTP code information of customers’ services.

Fraudsters often pretend to be customer care staff of carriers, banks, and e-wallets to call customers for service instructions, or to solve any problems and ask customers to take action. verification on the phone.

After the customer agrees to follow the instructions, they ask the customer to manipulate the code on the keyboard as **21*scammers phone number#OK (command according to the USSD protocol). This is essentially a call divert feature that allows mobile subscribers to divert calls to another phone number.

Warning about taking advantage of Call Forwarding feature to steal OTP codes

When the Call Forwarding command is successfully executed according to the instructions of the scammer, the customer subscriber will still have signal, receive SMS or access the network normally, but all incoming calls from that time have been redirected. receive calls to “Scammers phone number”.

After fraudulently hijacking calls, the crooks will log into the victim’s e-wallet application, social network account… and declare Forgot login password, select the feature to receive call notification code OTP, because the customer was previously tricked into performing the Call Forwarding operation, the calls from the application switchboard will be redirected to the crook’s phone number.

From there they easily take over social network accounts, control appropriation of money in wallets and bank accounts linked to e-wallets.

This carrier recommends, customers need to be wary of fraudulent calls, do not manipulate the code **21*Phone number# according to the instructions from these calls.

When the phone shows abnormal signs such as not receiving an incoming call (with a call forwarding icon next to the operator logo), the customer immediately manipulates ##21# to cancel the unwanted call transfer order. Immediately contact the operator to check the status of the subscriber and get advice, answers or recommendations on how to handle.

Besides, customers need to be wary of fraudulent calls to replace 4G Sim, do not change SIM remotely via phone or any other online form.

In case the phone SIM is detected with abnormal signs such as: loss of signal, not receiving calls, messages… for unknown reasons, customers should urgently contact the toll-free switchboard for support. Check the subscriber’s status and get advice and recommendations for timely handling.

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