Vietnam police warn of new SMS scams promising fake account balances

Police in Phú Thọ province warned that large‑scale personal data leaks are being used by criminal groups to open fake bank accounts, apply for online loans and launder money. Victims are tricked by phone calls that impersonate officials and request money or passwords. The province urged citizens to avoid sharing identity documents or clicking suspicious links.

Police in Gia Lai province reported a surge of SMS messages claiming a bank account has an unexpected balance, such as “Account has 378k!” or “Top up 188, get 376!”. The messages contain unknown phone numbers and links to bogus websites that harvest personal data, OTP codes or install malware. Authorities advised the public to recognize these signs and refrain from interacting with the messages.