Why do many people “fall into traps” when threatened over the phone?

Hanoi police said that at the end of April, this person reported a phone call from “Da Nang City Police officer”, informed about a drug trafficking ring, with a 6-month detention order. He was sent a link from the “police agency” to “log in and declare assets to investigate the origin of the money”. Due to anxiety, he believed in his word, and when he checked the property, he discovered that he lost nearly 1.5 billion VND.

Two weeks ago, an elderly man also in Hanoi reported that fraudsters took more than 5 billion VND from his account. Still “edited by the old man”, a stranger called him to inform him that he was “involved in an under-investigation case”, asking to provide bank assets for verification. With many psychological tricks to cause panic, they successfully carried out the mission, withdrawing all the money of the victim.

These are just two of many cases where fraudsters attack the victim’s psyche to take money. Authorities say this scam has been going on for many years, and has recently blossomed “like mushrooms after the rain” with more sophisticated tricks.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, in the first quarter of 2022, domestic police arrested and handled 372 fraud cases to appropriate online properties, including many cases impersonating judicial agencies.

Senior Lieutenant Hoang Van Vy, Deputy Captain of Crime Prevention and Social Order, Division of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (Ha Tinh Police), analyzed that the impostor used tricks to attack people’s trust. Usually, when hearing someone calling to claim to be an officer of a police agency, court, or procuracy… most people will have little confidence. Listening to a few sentences, thinking that they are talking to “people working in law enforcement agencies”, listeners will have the mentality that they need to be vindicated, and want to explain that the large source of money they own is legal.

For those who have little understanding of the proceedings, the phrase “investigative agency” is easy to worry, and “sweat” to hear. Understanding this, when lured into a trap, the group of scammers will divide members to play different roles such as police officers, courts… constantly calling to exert pressure. The purpose of the victim was to worry more and more, his mind was dominated by many vague thoughts, did not have time or thought to verify the threat information because they were fabricated.

Some people are threatened with fear of losing credibility, are afraid to tell their family and friends about things, etc. There are also people who are sometimes too confident in themselves, thinking that it is not easy to be deceived, silently performing sports created by crooks “to see what they do”. However, most of them then lost control and got caught up in the game, because the crooks were more organized and skilled, Lieutenant Vy said.

Lawyer Phan Van Chieu, Director of Ha Chau Law Firm, Ha Tinh province further analyzed that in this aspect, the psychological blow is thoroughly used by the crooks. Many people are very apprehensive when they see the law enforcement agency contacting them. They often ignore precautions, not checking back to verify who is talking.

From here the crook “goes from difficult to easy”. Seeing that the victim was afraid of being investigated, began to feel “more worried”, the fraud group put into the “matrix” when sending fake documents to threaten such as summons, decision to prosecute the case, arrest warrant. detained for investigation…

According to lawyer Afternoon, when the “prey” has followed this stage, more or less has been caught, or has a psychological fear, wants to explain, and voluntarily follows the instructions to handle the matter in a favorable direction. for yourself. In the final step, the crooks hit the economy when asking to transfer money “to serve the investigation, not transferring will block and confiscate the account”.

“Some victims’ psychology at this stage seems to be completely paralyzed. They are not aware of this request as a sign of fraud anymore, but quickly follow it to avoid being involved with the law, in order to protect his property,” the lawyer said.

The lawyer said that throughout the process, the crooks used tactics to attack the light-hearted mentality, the awareness of vigilance was not high, and did not understand the law related to the resolution process of the legal agencies.

Having been in contact with a number of suspects impersonating a judicial agency, Lieutenant Hoang Van Vy, said that they were very sophisticated, operating in the style of “dropping a net to catch fish”. Calling 100-200 people every day, but one person “falls in the trap” is successful. The identity and background are also very well hidden. When caught, they always “take the test”, after many days, they are sincere.

In addition, the above organizations gather members with very high knowledge of information technology, knowing how to make websites like the interface of big banks to lure victims. When the “prey” created an account and transferred money at the web created by them, they accidentally revealed the password and OTP code.

According to authorities, the difficulty in fighting this type of crime is partly due to the victims. Many people are shy, afraid, do not want to report, or are sometimes approached by the police, still avoid, want to delete relevant data.

The police advise people not to panic when they are threatened by someone pretending to be a judicial agency. When receiving threatening information, it is necessary to verify specifically, call to state agencies to check, do not work online or by phone. If in doubt, they call the nearest police agency to report.

In addition, to avoid “trouble”, people should not declare personal information on social networks, e-commerce sites when shopping online, refuse to follow strangers’ requests for installation instructions. , login applications…

“Each person needs to be wary of any threatening or enticing calls from strangers, don’t lose cows and then build a barn,” said Senior Lieutenant Vy, and said the dismantling of fake scam lines. Law enforcement is not simple, because many cases have international elements, the suspect uses high-tech measures to set up servers abroad. When they get caught in the net, recovering the victim’s property is also very complicated.

Duc Hung