Fraudsters are exploiting the peak period for issuing identity cards and electronic identification accounts for children, using police impersonation tactics to call and text parents via the Zalo messaging app to steal from them.
Criminals pose as village or ward police officers or officers from the Administrative Police Department for Social Order. They claim the child’s electronic identification account has errors, is missing information, or is not synchronized to Level 2 data. To press for quick action, they invoke imminent expiration, urgent directives from superiors, or threats that delays could affect the child’s studies and exams.
When parents show signs of panic, the scammers avoid directing them to visit the police. Instead, they request to add the perpetrators as a contact on Zalo. From there, they send suspicious links or guide victims to download a counterfeit app that imitates the official VNeID interface or government software.
The report does not provide numerical data. Lang Son Provincial Police issued an urgent notice urging nationwide vigilance, but no statistics are included in the material.
Upon installation of the counterfeit app and granting access, the device becomes infected with malware. The criminals can silently read messages containing OTP codes and quickly execute money transfer commands to drain bank assets without the victim’s knowledge.
Authorities reiterate safety guidelines: the police will never ask citizens to provide sensitive personal information, OTPs, or passwords over the phone. Government officials will never guide people to download or install apps via suspicious links on the internet. The procedure to register a Level-2 electronic identification account must be conducted directly at the police station or mobile ID issuance points, and for children aged 6 to under 14, parents or legal guardians must accompany the child in person to complete all procedures.
To protect personal assets, citizens should not follow any instructions from strangers over the phone related to updating ID card information or the VNeID app. Do not install apps outside the official app store. Whenever signs of suspected fraud appear, citizens should immediately stop communication and report to the nearest police for timely assistance.
Source: Lang Son Provincial Police
