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The Nghệ An Provincial Police have issued a warning about the risk of personal information leakage linked to installing tracking and positioning software sold on social media.
Authorities said there have been cases in which some Facebook accounts advertise and publicly promote services offering “install tracking, positioning, and eavesdropping software on mobile phones.”
In many instances, people install the software themselves for personal reasons or out of curiosity, or allow someone else to install it. The services are marketed as tools to “monitor family members,” “track infidelity,” and “know the location and listen to surrounding sounds in real time.” Prices are described as ranging from a few hundred thousand to several million dong, depending on the type of software.
Police noted that the software is often unoriginated and designed to operate covertly, bypassing operating system alert mechanisms. As a result, scammers may collect data stored on the device, including contacts, messages, calls, GPS location, and images. The programs may also enable secret recording through the microphone or camera without the user’s knowledge.
Authorities said that once a phone has such tracking software installed, the user loses full control of personal data. Sensitive information—such as bank account details, social media passwords, private photos, and work documents—can be leaked or stolen and used for illegal purposes, including extortion, impersonation to commit fraud, or siphoning money from bank accounts.
In some cases, the person who purchases the monitoring service is also scammed, because data obtained is stored by a third party and later exploited to carry out crimes.
To avoid illegal surveillance traps, Nghệ An Police advised citizens to remain vigilant, not install applications from unknown sources, and not allow strangers to install or interfere with software on their devices.
Police also recommended that mobile users regularly review app access permissions, use legitimate security software, and set passwords and fingerprint locks to protect their devices.
If users suspect their phone is being tracked, police advised them to promptly take the device to a reputable technical center to check and remove malware or reset the phone. They should also report suspected information privacy violations to the police.
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