Vietnam confronts rise in AI‑driven voice scams and corporate hacking

Vietnam is experiencing a surge in AI‑powered fraud. Deepfake voice technology allows criminals to mimic officials and relatives, leading victims to transfer money after hearing a familiar voice. Police report more than 24,000 online scams from 2020‑2025, with total losses approaching 40 000 billion VND. One case involved a woman in Hanoi nearly sending 200 million VND after a two‑minute call sounding like an investigation officer.

In a separate incident, an amateur hacker from Ethiopia used AI agents from Claude and OpenAI Codex to breach the networks of 14 Vietnamese companies. The attacks accessed secure data and aimed to steal about US$4 million in cryptocurrency. The hacker leveraged AI‑generated code and instructions, bypassing standard defenses and raising concerns about the ease with which powerful AI tools can be abused for cybercrime.