Fraudulently updating citizen identification information to use electronic household registration

Recently, the situation of fraud and property appropriation crimes continues to become complicated. Although the tricks are not new, the way to approach victims is increasingly sophisticated and professional, especially fraud in cyberspace.

Online fraud is increasingly sophisticated and professional

Ms. Nguyen Loan, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi, said that she had just received a call from a subject claiming to be Tuan. The ward police informed them about the procedure to make a citizen identification card for her child, which was missing biometric data such as fingerprints, blurred images… and requested to bring the birth certificate and citizen identification card to the district police for updating.

The subject impersonating a police officer asked her to call another subscriber believed to be an officer in charge of electronic household registration in Thanh Xuan district for assistance in re-registering information for her child.

“The person claiming to be a police officer told me to call officer Thanh Hang, district police administrative manager, to complete the child’s records, to issue an electronic household registration book to the family. At the same time, they also told me that my child’s records were suspended on the national system. This is related to the child’s admission or exam records, so I asked to do it immediately,” Ms. Nguyen Loan said.

After that, the subject requested that the information registration must be done on an Android phone with the reason that the request from the iOS phone was overloaded, and registration on the computer did not support taking photos.

“They asked me to download an application on an Android phone to register for the national public service portal, but the iPhone is overloaded. While no one in my family uses that phone, I suggested doing it on a laptop that supports photography. They insisted on borrowing the phone. When I felt it was too much trouble, I went to the local police station and asked the ward police, only to find out that the call was a scam,” Ms. Loan said.

Not only scams related to updating citizen identification cards, bad actors also take advantage of electronic tax services to fraudulently steal and appropriate information and assets of taxpayers, amounting to billions of dong.

The trick scammers often use is to impersonate tax authorities to intimidate, ask taxpayers to provide information, send citizen identification images to receive support and guidance on procedures for tax reduction, tax refund, tax settlement and inspection work.

Fraudsters also send fake application installation links to take control of phones and steal money from taxpayers’ bank accounts.

Or they send taxpayers a fake website with an interface similar to the website of an agency or business so that users mistakenly think it is the supplier’s website.

In addition, cyber criminals also spoof SMS brand name messages of the General Department of Taxation to distribute fake messages, send fake links and instructions to take control of phones/computers, and appropriate money in taxpayers’ bank accounts.

Take advantage of social networks and nTrust applications to verify information

At the regular September press conference of the Ministry of Information and Communications (TTTT), Mr. Nguyen Phong Nha, Deputy Director of the Department of Telecommunications, said that in recent times, in order to minimize the situation of spam calls and calls with signs of fraud, the Ministry of Information and Communications has directed units and businesses to implement many measures such as: connecting and authenticating the subscriber information database with the national population database, handling SIMs with information that does not comply with regulations.

Statistics show that each month telecommunications businesses block about 50 million spam messages and 50,000 subscribers spreading spam calls and calls showing signs of fraud.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Information and Communications will continue to implement measures to ensure the SIM is owned by the owner, thoroughly handling the situation of a subscriber owning multiple SIMs; Coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security to ask people to be responsible for providing their mobile subscription numbers to the population database according to the provisions of the Law on Identification to help identify the owner.

“The Ministry of Information and Communications also directs network operators to lock 2-way and revoke pre-activated SIMs that are still on the channel. Coordinate with authorities of the Ministry of Public Security to take measures to strictly handle related violations. Promote propaganda and warn users about spam calls and calls with signs of fraud,” Mr. Nguyen Phong Nha stated.

According to Mr. Vu Ngoc Son, Head of Technology Department, National Cyber ​​Security Association, in the context of online fraud becoming complicated, many people need to proactively equip skills to distinguish between accurate information and fraud.

To verify the reliability of information, people need to look up where the information comes from. If the source is not a reputable source such as the official website of relevant agencies or organizations, you need to be wary because the risk of fraud is very high.

Along with that, compare information and compare it with different sources to evaluate its accuracy. If information only appears in one place or does not appear on the official websites of any reputable agencies or organizations, be careful.

“People can also seek feedback on forums and social networks to receive more information from people who have gone through similar situations, but they also need to be wary of fake information posted by scammers with the aim of causing confusion or confusion for people,” Mr. Vu Ngoc Son commented.

Cyber ​​security experts recommend that people can recognize signs of fraud through a number of details such as subjects giving close timelines to pressure the recipient of information, asking to provide personal information, promises that are too good or opportunities that are too unusually good and hard to believe.

To assist people in detecting and preventing fraud, the nTrust application developed by the National Cyber ​​Security Association has many useful features.

nTrust works by connecting, collecting, and analyzing information from a variety of sources to identify phone numbers, bank accounts, and websites that show signs of fraud.

The application also provides warnings to users through checking transaction information, comparing it with the stored database and issuing warnings if signs of insecurity are detected.

“Users are both beneficiaries but also members of the fraud prevention community. They can report suspected cases, helping to strengthen the system’s database. In this way, each person will contribute a part to help strengthen the online fraud prevention shield for society,” Mr. Vu Ngoc Son expressed.