Quang Tri man charged after ATM card theft and PIN guessing, nearly 48.5 million VND stolen

After stealing a neighbor's ATM card, a young man in Quang Tri correctly guessed the PIN and made multiple withdrawals from the account, totaling nearly 50 million dong. On May 9, the Investigation Police Agency of Quang Tri Province stated that they had filed a case, charged the accused, and remanded Võ Sơn Lâm, 21, of Hoa Binh village, Ninh Chau commune, to investigate the act of property theft. Following the prior report by Ms. T.T.B. (45, from Ninh Chau), the culprit had stolen her ATM card and repeatedly withdrew money from the account. Upon receiving the report, Ninh Chau Commune Police promptly investigated, traced, and identified Võ Sơn Lâm — B's neighbor — as the suspect. Lâm has two prior convictions for theft. Initial investigation indicates Lâm secretly took B's ATM card multiple times. Because the account holder used a simple password, the suspect easily guessed the PIN and then directly visited ATMs to withdraw cash. The total amount stolen was determined to be nearly 48.5 million dong. According to state police, the suspect's method was not highly sophisticated, but exploited people's negligence in safeguarding bank cards and using easily guessable passwords. From this incident, Ninh Chau Police urged residents to securely store ATM cards, not to reveal where they are kept, or carry them on their person. They also recommended regularly checking account balances to promptly detect suspicious transactions. Additionally, authorities advised residents not to set ATM passwords to birth dates or simple sequences like 123456 to avoid asset theft by criminals.