Original SIM card but still occupied by others Ms. ATH (in Binh Duong) reflected on 2-3 days, she discovered that her phone displayed a message that could not be called, so she went to VNPT Binh Duong Business Center to ask for a check. Here, the technical staff said that the SIM card is not damaged, still works two-way. On March 4, she went to the center to ask for a new SIM card. After that, the phone works normally. On March 12, Ms. H. logged into her credit card account to check and found that the money in the account had been withdrawn in the form of payment for purchases. Suspecting that her SIM information was exposed during the SIM rework, Ms. H. went to VNPT Binh Duong Business Center to find out. Only now did she know that on 2-3 days there was a transaction to replace her SIM at a VNPT center in Ho Chi Minh City. Ms. H. said that this SIM phone number has been registered by her owner before. Now suddenly my SIM was declared and appropriated by someone else, leading to the loss of her credit card more than 58 million dong. “During the settlement process, the representative of VNPT HCMC (where the SIM exchange happened) said he would support me with a scratch card worth 2 million VND, but I did not accept it. The main reason for losing money is because the network operator re-issued the SIM in the wrong process, not because of me, “- Ms. H. shared. Ms. ATH was upset because someone else took control of her phone SIM, so her credit account lost more than 58 million dong. Photo: DANG LE Another case is Mr. Trieu Duc Khai (in Thai Binh) also said on April 21, he made a complaint to VNPT Center in Thai Thuy district, Thai Binh. The content of the complaint about his VinaPhone SIM, although registered by the owner, was still controlled by others, leading to the loss of 35 million VND in his credit card. Through working with VNPT in Thai Thuy district, it was determined that someone had impersonated him to carry out the procedure to lose the SIM and make a new SIM with the subscriber number that Mr. Khai was using. This person only declared five phone numbers to call out, come to the nearest, and then be given a new SIM. Occupying SIM is a trick to appropriate money Exchange with Ho Chi Minh City Law Vo Do Thang, Director of Athena International Security and Network Administration Training Center, said that through the two cases above, it shows that if anyone reports the loss of SIM and only needs to provide five phone numbers to call. going, calling recently, committing to subscriber owner rights to be re-issued with a new SIM is not good at all. This has created a loophole for crooks to steal other people’s SIMs, to the detriment of genuine SIM users. According to Mr. Thang, most of the victims in the SIM loss cases were taken by fraudsters by making online payments. To pay for online purchases, there are three factors: The first is a mobile phone number. The credit card holder must register this phone number with the bank to authenticate transactions and receive bank notifications. The second is the card number (a series of numbers printed on the front of the credit card). The third is the OTP (one-time password) verification code sent to the phone number registered with the bank. In the working minutes and written responses to Ms. H. and Mr. Khai, the network operator confirmed that re-issuing SIM cards to others was not in accordance with the process. Photo: DANG LE. After hijacking the right to use the SIM, the crooks will take the victim’s credit card number to pay online, then use the newly issued SIM to receive the OTP code and complete the payment. The victim’s credit card number has been stolen by the crooks before, appropriating the phone SIM is only the last step to perform the act of appropriating money. According to Mr. Thang, not everyone who loses their phone SIM will lose money in their credit cards and bank accounts. Only when they have had their credit card or account information exposed before can crooks steal money. The victim’s credit card information may be exposed during previous online transactions. The cause is usually because the victim has filled out information on fraudulent websites, installed malicious code on the phone to steal card information, opened attachments of unknown origin or it can also be due to credit institutions. does not guarantee safety in terms of security,” Thang shared. In the working minutes and written responses to Ms. H. and Mr. Khai, the network operator confirmed that re-issuing SIM cards to others was not in accordance with the process. Photo: DANG LE The network operator did the wrong process In both cases mentioned above, in the process of working with customers, the operator has confirmed that the teller when carrying out the SIM reissuance procedure only requires the customer to provide five outgoing and incoming phone numbers. subscriber ownership is not the correct procedure. In response to the recent complaint of VNPT Center in Thai Thuy district, Thai Binh province against Mr. Trieu Duc Khai, it is clear that because of this unfortunate incident, VNPT Center of Thai Thuy district has apologized to customers. The material damage that the impostor causes to the customer, the center will fix and compensate for the loss. As for the case of Ms. ATH, VNPT HCMC said that it will accompany the customer to provide necessary information to serve the investigation agency.

Scams through SIM upgrade support have flourished recently. A representative of VinaPhone network operator said that in the past time, high-tech scams have increased sharply with sophisticated tricks, in which there has been a situation where fraudsters have appropriated control of mobile subscribers’ SIMs. Steal OTP code information, then withdraw money from customer’s credit card or borrow money online. This carrier recommends that mobile users be wary of calls and messages from unknown numbers with content such as requests for assistance with SIM replacement/SIM upgrade or winning announcements. When there are phenomena like above, customers access the official websites and information channels of the network operator to authenticate or contact the customer service center for answers. When the phone SIM has abnormal signs such as signal loss, disabled for unknown reasons, many strange phone numbers calling in the same time period, etc., customers urgently contact the network operator to check the status of the subscriber and get advice, answers or recommendations on how to handle it. In case the subscriber receives a notice of unusual transactions such as transactions related to credit cards, related online credit loans, customers should immediately contact the banks and financial institutions where the card is issued. Credit card, where the online credit transaction occurs, request emergency card locking support to prevent fraudsters from appropriating assets or clarifying that online credit transaction. In addition, the network operator recommends that users do not access the links attached to the content of strange messages; do not perform operations on the phone according to the syntax instructed by strangers. When there is a need to change / change a new SIM, go directly to the transaction points or the official agent of the carrier to do it. VinaPhone said that it has added surveillance cameras at transaction points to prevent bad behavior and widely communicated on internal channels as well as mass media for customers to capture information and be vigilant. against scams. Previously, the authorities also warned about fraud to appropriate the right to use the sim and then borrow money online. Many cases after upgrading the sim suddenly become a debtor of several million to several tens of millions of dong.

Accordingly, the subjects in this line have illegally collected, appropriated, bought, sold and used nearly 1.3 thousand GB of data containing billions of information about individuals and organizations nationwide. The dismantling of the above-mentioned large-scale data collection, appropriation and trading line shows the efforts of the police sector in strictly dealing with the theft and illegal use of personal data for handling. according to the provisions of law, creating a deterrent; and at the same time prevent cybercriminals from taking advantage of this information to commit fraud, appropriate property and limit the use of personal information to send spam messages, make “terrible” calls. dad” advertising… It is worth noting that the personal information being traded in the above line is the customers of the banks; power companies, finance, securities, insurance; electronics and fashion stores; services: spa, dental, beauty salon… There is even a list of parents, students, household registration, phone subscribers… Thereby showing that, in order to obtain the personal data of users, in addition to the sophisticated tricks of the perpetrators, there is also the subjectivity and neglect of many people in the security of personal information. Currently, many people are willing to provide personal information (name, address, phone number, email …) to participate in promotions, sweepstakes, purchase online… helping the subjects steal information easily. Therefore, in addition to the investigation and handling of the subjects who steal and illegally use personal information, in order to protect themselves, each individual must raise the awareness of protecting personal data, do not provide information easily, avoid becoming a victim of fraudsters or being bothered by unwanted messages and phone calls.

Illustration. According to Hai Duong Police, recently, many mobile subscribers have received messages impersonating financial institutions and banks, sending fake and fraudulent content in order to appropriate people’s money. Through verification and evaluation, the authorities found that these fake messages did not come from the systems of financial institutions, banks and telecommunications businesses, but were distributed through transmitters. fake mobile signal. These are devices of foreign origin, which are illegally traded and used by objects for the purpose of carrying out attacks to spread spam messages to deceive users, especially users in remote areas. urban area. Fraudsters often use fake broadcast devices to send spam messages directly to the phone without going through the mobile telecommunications network. These messages are sent by objects that change source information in order to create trust and deceive users. The message content is often advertising, instructions or contains links to fake websites like official websites of financial institutions, banks to lure and steal users’ information such as accounts, password, OTP code. Many users do not recognize the fake website, so they provide personal information to access the bank account such as entering the account name and password. After the user provides the information, the fake website will redirect to another website or notify the user to wait. The subject uses the user’s personal information to log in to the official website of financial institutions and banks to get the OTP authentication code (if necessary).