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 H. logged into her credit card account to check and found that the money in the account had been withdrawn in the form of payment for purchases.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.

The price is 3 times cheaper, no owner needed Specifically, the best-selling cheap 4G SIMs on online markets are usually VinaPhone’s D500, VD149 SIM, Viettel’s V90, V120 SIM, Vietnamobile’s unlimited 4G monthly SIM card or MobiFone’s MDT250A SIM. These are cheap packages, usually in the form of a 1-year package that does not need to be recharged. The convenience of these SIM lines also lies in the fact that users do not need to register the subscriber’s own owner, just buy it and perform the activation operation, the SIM will always be used without the owner’s information. Cheap 4G SIMs that don’t need to be registered are sold widely on online markets. About the price, the same package that the carrier collects monthly from prepaid or postpaid users, these cheap 4G SIMs have cheaper monthly rates, even without monthly payments, just buy SIM card can be used continuously for 12 months. For example, with Viettel’s V120 package, this network operator collects a monthly fee of 120,000 VND per month from registered users, but when using a cheap 4G SIM on the network market, the price of this package is only 90,000 VND per month. month. Deeper reduction can include SIM VD149 of VinaPhone. Instead of paying 149,000 VND per month like a regular SIM, users of cheap 4G SIMs buying on the online market only have to pay a one-time payment of about 680,000 VND to buy a SIM, which can be used for 12 months. This price is equivalent to more than 56,000 VND a month, nearly 3 times cheaper than the price offered by the network operator for the same package. According to the advertisement of online merchants, a cheap 4G SIM is a type of SIM suitable for technology car drivers, students, and users who need to use 4G continuously with large capacity and cheap price. A quick survey shows that the price of this type of SIM ranges from less than 100,000 VND to about 700,000 VND depending on the package and network operator. After ordering a cheap 4G SIM above, Zing quickly receive goods and use SIM immediately, no need to register any subscription information. When looking up subscriber information, the system from the network operator returns information that the subscriber owner is a person named Long in Tra Vinh with the accompanying CCCD number. Also according to the seller, users can send their CCCD information to register the owner for peace of mind to use the SIM for a long time. Share with Zing , a telecommunications expert said that in addition to the risk of being fined for using junk SIMs, buyers and users of non-original SIM cards are also likely to be scammed, buying unusable SIMs such as end. “Besides, when sending information to register the SIM owner purchased online, users are also likely to have their information stolen to register for other non-original SIMs. Most likely cheap 4G SIMs sold on the Internet. The network is also pre-registered using the information of previous customers,” he said. Strongly scan for junk SIM In order to have a “clean” database to deploy new services, the authorities and network operators are stepping up the cleaning of telecommunications junk, including spam SIMs, spam messages and spam calls. Previously, the Ministry of Information and Communications (TT & TT) asked the carriers to directly connect the database of subscriber information registration with the Department of Telecommunications. In addition, develop and apply criteria to prevent suspicious activity on the distribution channel such as not allowing activation at night, activation frequency exceeding 1 subscriber/minute, 100 subscribers/day, registration Sign more than 3 subscribers/1 number of papers. The Ministry of Information and Communications and network operators are stepping up the search for junk SIM and other telecommunications waste. Photo: Ngo Minh. Also according to the regulator, the carriers also deployed an artificial intelligence (AI) matching tool to identify portraits and documents using artificial intelligence (AI) across the entire distribution channel to prevent the use of documents. invalid, use photos instead of real people… Network operators including Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone also offer strong solutions to combat spam such as stopping the sale of network adapters at authorized dealers, stopping the right to connect subscriber numbers of authorized dealers from June 1. 2020. Instead, businesses will focus on selling SIMs and registering subscriber information at their telecommunications service providers. According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 2 of Decree 49, the act of using someone else’s documents (even if they are lent) or transferring the registered SIM card to another person for use without re-signing the contract will be subject to administrative fines up to 500,000 VND. In addition, according to the Department of Telecommunications, when there are violations of the law, cases related to mobile subscriber numbers are used by individuals or organizations in the name of the subscriber, but not directly but to be used by the person who violates the law, the person in the name of the subscriber is responsible for explaining and proving his innocence when requested by the authorities, even having to bear joint criminal responsibility. if this violation causes serious consequences.

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.

Telecommunication operators have deployed many solutions to prevent and handle spam sims. In the photo: VinaPhone staff support customers to activate new subscribers. The purchase and sale of junk sim has complicated signs According to the Telecommunications Department (Ministry of Information and Communications), in order to tighten the management of pre-activated sims, operators have applied artificial intelligence (AI) technology to support customer identification (KYC) from May. 4-2020; stop developing new sims at authorized points from June 2020; upgrade AI biometrics from September 2020. According to statistics, the network operators have processed and recalled about 26 million suspected sims that were activated on the distribution channel. From July 2020 to March 2021, carriers blocked nearly 129,000 calls with suspicious signs of spam, blocking 29.5 million calls with signs of fraud. Deputy Director of the Telecommunications Department Le Van Tuan assessed that the above solutions have contributed to preventing the situation of buying and selling garbage sims in 2020. However, in early 2021, the purchase, sale and use of trash sims showed signs of complexity. trash back. According to a survey by the Telecommunications Department, the rate of new subscribers in the first 3 months of 2021 increases by 10%, much higher than the average growth rate in the whole 2020 (6%) … Spam sim must be strengthened. At the end of April 2021, 3 operators Viettel, VNPT / VinaPhone, MobiFone agreed to add additional measures to handle spam sims. Specifically, subscription activation is performed on the centralized system of the enterprise. Authorized agents only support sales and enter subscriber information. In particular, the network operator deployed a video call technology solution (video call) to authenticate customers before activating the subscription. In addition, additional responsibility for handling individuals and units if any mistake occurs … Introducing more specifically about the above solutions, Mr. Pham Manh Ha, Department of Infrastructure and Connection (Telecommunications Department) said that, according to regulations, the network operator must be fully responsible for the registration and management of the network. subscription information management. Therefore, the network operators agree not to allow authorized agents to activate the sim as before. In addition, to ensure accurate subscriber information, operators will increase control through the registration procedure of subscriber information in accordance with regulations, with customer identification, then the department is responsible. Activate sim will make a video call to re-monitor. The video call technology solution is integrated on the terminals at the operator’s stores, each call only takes a short time enough to validate subscriber information before deciding to activate. Combined inspection and violation handling Deputy General Director of Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) To Dung Thai emphasized, since 2 years ago, VNPT has come up with the view that subscriber development is based on efficiency, that is, the subscriber is the owner and must generating charges and discouraging massive subscriber development. The application of the solution to prevent spam sim once again affirms the determination of the business in developing a healthy and sustainable telecommunications market. Meanwhile, Deputy General Director of Military Telecom Industry Group (Viettel), Tao Duc Thang, said that Viettel and carriers have discussed and agreed on solutions to try to prevent spam sims. In addition, the Department of Telecommunications, the Inspector of the Ministry of Information and Communications and the local Department of Information and Communication also need to regularly inspect and strictly handle violations. According to representatives of telecommunications businesses, in fact, users want convenience when buying and selling and using phone sims is real, so does not rule out the phenomenon of selling points, agents “circumvent” the law to sell sims. activation available. In addition, there is also the fact that many customers register for the primary sim, but the AI ​​system does not recognize the image of personal papers. Therefore, the handling of trash sim also needs a roadmap, difficult to completely solve at once. According to Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Phan Tam, with the signing of cooperation in implementing spam sim prevention, telecommunications businesses have shown their commitment and determination more clearly. The Ministry of Information and Communications will base on the level of implementation to assess the commitment and determination of the carriers. At the same time, the Ministry will direct functional units, the information and communication departments to continue checking and handling the situation of buying and selling garbage sims. The determination of businesses will make a fundamental change in the management of prepaid mobile phone sims in order to contribute to creating a safe and healthy cyberspace environment.

Blocked more than 8.5 million fraudulent calls in the first quarter. Artwork From July 1, 2020, the Telecommunications Department – Ministry of Information and Communications has coordinated with carriers Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone to deploy a technology solution to filter and disconnect subscribers who distribute spam calls. Specifically, from July 2020 to March 2021, the above 5 carriers have blocked 128,970 calls with suspicious signs of being spam calls. Through the technical system, the network operators also detected and prevented 29,497,735 calls with signs of fraud, contributing to ensuring safety, security and social order; separately from January to March 2021, 39,321 spam calls and 8,500,702 suspected phishing calls were blocked. At this point, the Telecommunications Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) will continue to promote measures to manage and handle violations related to “telecommunications junk” (spam sims, spam calls, spam messages). On the other hand, the Telecommunications Department also coordinates with carriers to deploy technical solutions to prevent fake phone calls, prevent sales of pre-activated sims …

Send a petition to Ho Chi Minh City Women’s Newspaper, Ms. TBC – in Thu Dau Mot city, Binh Duong province – said that she had just been stolen by an object, appropriated more than 58 million dong in credit card. Ms. C. said, on March 2, she saw the phone displaying a message “unable to call”. The next day, she went to VNPT Binh Duong Business Center to check and rebuild a new sim, but the staff said that the sim card was not damaged, it was still working in two directions; “Cannot call” may be caused by phone malfunction. A fake message on the network operator calling for users to upgrade to a 4G sim. Phone subscribers need to be very wary of this kind of message – Photo: Provided by Competition and Consumer Protection Department On March 4, she asked to renew a new sim and a new one to work properly (listen, call). On March 12, when she accidentally read an article about the theft of money from her credit card, she immediately logged into her Fe Credit credit card account to check, and discovered that the money in the account was completely withdrawn in the form of purchase payment. Suspecting that her sim information was leaked during the sim remake process, Ms. H. came to complain at VNPT Binh Duong Business Center, just learned on March 2, there was a transaction to replace her sim card in Ho Chi Minh City. “I live in Binh Duong, have never made a transaction to replace my sim card in Ho Chi Minh City. VNPT Binh Duong Business Center also confirmed to only perform one SIM replacement transaction in Binh Duong. Thus, there is a fraudster who falsified my papers to perform a sim replacement transaction in Ho Chi Minh City and then appropriated property “- Ms. C. said. Not long ago, Dang Thanh Hai – in Ho Chi Minh City, the owner of a Viettel subscriber – suddenly blocked his mobile phone number, then was withdrawn 30 million dong from his bank account. Mr. Vu Minh Nhat – in Hanoi, the owner of a Mobifone subscriber – also had his sim stolen and then hacked into his bank account, losing 74.8 million dong via online payment. In the above two cases, the fraudster used a notarized copy of the identity card (ID card), went to the phone store (also the agent of the network operator) to register the procedure. In the case of Mr. Hai, the employee does not compare the copy of ID card with the original ID card; In the case of Nhat, the staff did not see the original ID card, nor did they require the latest contacts to verify. Recently, Thanh Hoa City Police, Thanh Hoa Province prosecuted seven subjects for counterfeiting ID cards according to customer information and then pasted their photos, to transaction points of network operators such as Viettel, Vinaphone to report the loss of their sim cards. suggest to redo the sim with the old number After being granted phone numbers from the carriers, the subjects used fake IDs and stolen phone numbers to make unsecured loan contracts from Fe Credit with loans from 20-70 million VND, appropriating a total of 500 million dong. The network operator can not be indifferent In the case of Ms. TBC, the representative of Vinaphone’s mobile phone network admitted, Vinaphone staff made a mistake in the process. Rather, in order to be reissued (in case of no sim), the subscriber must present his ID card, fill out an application form to reissue the sim, provide five outgoing and five dialed phone numbers. come. But the transaction staff in Ho Chi Minh City did not ask the replacement sim (the fraudster) to present ID card, just provide five phone numbers to call out and call. As a result, the fraudster easily obtained the sim of Mrs. C. and then appropriated more than 58 million dong in the credit card. Why does the fraudster know the five dialed and dialed numbers of the sim owner? According to Mr. Vo Do Thang – Director of Athens International Security and Network Management Training Center – the crook can use many of his own sims to phone, send text messages to the subscriber owner to call back and easily get the list. these calls. The situation of sim theft is happening more and more, but the network operators have not changed the sim re-issuance process as well as require transaction staff to be more cautious in re-issuing the sim, in order to ensure safety for customers. According to Mr. Vo Do Thang, the easy re-issuance of sim cards has created a gap for the fraudster who steals the sim. Employees often check for passport or not check, while counterfeiting ID is not difficult; Furthermore, they also have no inspection skills so it is difficult to detect tampering. “If the network operator takes one more step, such as issuing a password when issuing the sim for the first time, there is a secret question that only the subscriber knows, using artificial intelligence to detect the sim owner’s face … Having forged papers, it is not possible to steal the sim card ”- Mr. Vo Do Thang proposed. The representative of Vinaphone added that this company had collected information related to the theft of Ms. C.’s sim and transferred it to the police station to assist the victim. According to FeCredit Finance Company, because Mrs. C. was not at fault in this case, she is not responsible for the lost credit card amount. Why do I lose money in credit card when I lose my sim card? Most of the victims in the sim lost cases are stolen money by fraudsters by making online payments. Three factors are required to pay for online purchases: First, a mobile phone number – the credit card holder must register this number with the bank to authenticate transactions and receive bank notices. Second is the card number (the serial number printed on the front of the credit card). Third is the OTP authentication code (one-time password) sent via registered phone number with the bank. According to Mr. Vo Do Thang, the victim’s credit card number has been stolen by the fraud before, the sim theft is just the last step to steal money. After the sim is stolen, the fraudster will take the victim’s credit card number to pay online, then use the sim to receive the OTP code. Therefore, not everyone who loses their sim card will lose money in their credit card, in their bank account, only when they have revealed their credit card or account information before that the fraudster can steal the money. The victim’s credit card information may be exposed during previous online transactions by entering fraudulent websites, being infected with malicious code on the phone to steal card information or possibly due to The credit institution does not guarantee security. According to Mr. Vo Do Thang, criminals just need to steal credit card information, steal sim cards, and get OTP codes to steal money in the victim’s account shows that it is a great risk. Online payment processes of most credit institutions are still lax. “In this situation, the most important card users need to closely protect their card and account information, to avoid providing it to strangers. Absolutely do not visit strange websites or open attachments that are sent to unknown origin to avoid being installed with malicious code. Should be equipped with anti-virus software, anti-software with self-copy function (Trojan), keyboard manipulation monitoring programs (Keylogger), equipped with firewall protection … (According to Women HCMC)