44 more fake and scam websites discovered in 3 weeks
The website at the address 'vietgcv[.]cc' impersonating the portal of the Ministry of Information and Communications is one of 20 fraudulent websites that the National Cyber Security Monitoring Center - NCSC under the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) has just recommended people to raise their vigilance, avoid accessing and following the instructions of bad guys.
Just before that, in early April, the Information Security Department warned about a case of scammers setting up a website at the domain name 'policeonline[.]club', impersonating the website of the Cyber Security Monitoring Center to post 'advertisements to support the recovery of defrauded money with a 99.9% success rate', causing many people to once again be scammed and have their property appropriated.
According to statistics, in just the first 3 weeks of April 2024, the Information Security Department's linhbao.khonggianmang.vn system received nearly 630 user reports about cases of online fraud. Through inspection and analysis, experts from the Information Security Department found that there are many cases of fraud impersonating large agencies, organizations, businesses, suppliers, and services such as some ministries, branches, and agencies. social networks, banks, emails, public services...
Impersonating the Ministry of Information and Communications website to trick people into installing applications containing malicious code
The website interface impersonates the portal of the Ministry of Information and Communications, set up by the subjects to trick users into downloading and installing applications containing malicious code.
Based on user feedback and the results of scanning and monitoring Vietnam's cyberspace, in the past month, the Information Security Department has especially reminded people to be vigilant so as not to access 44 fraudulent and fake websites. The number of fraudulent and fake websites that this agency warned online users about in March 2024 was more than 100 pages.
Notably, in the past 2 months, scammers have continued to create fake national public service websites with many different domain names, all of which are international, specifically: Dichvucong[.]cvgov[.]com; Dichvucong[.]xgovvn[.]net; Dichvucong[.]dulieuqucogia[.]com...
Thus, by the end of April 21, the national anti-online fraud database had updated more than 124,600 fake website addresses related to online fraud. This database is now directly connected to Coc Coc browser and Zalo and SafeGate systems to automatically protect domestic Internet users from online fraud websites.
As of the first quarter of 2024, the technical system of the Ministry of Information and Communications, directly the Department of Information Security, has proactively blocked more than 10,000 malicious domain names, including more than 2,700 online fraud domain names. Thanks to that, more than 10.1 million people, equivalent to over 13.1% of Vietnamese Internet users, have been protected from online fraud attacks and violations of the law in cyberspace.
Fake websites of reputable organizations to trick people into installing applications containing malicious code
Top 10 fake and fraudulent websites were warned by the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) in the 3rd week of April 2024.
In parallel with the periodic or sudden issuance of warnings about fake and fraudulent websites as well as instructions on measures to identify and prevent common forms of fraud, the Department of Information Security has been providing many free technology tools to support people in detecting malware in the network system, checking for information leaks or self-checking websites suspected of being fraudulent or fake.
In addition to warning users, experts from the Department of Information Security also recommend that agencies, organizations, and businesses proactively scan to detect fraudulent websites that impersonate their units, and provide early warnings to users. This will help prevent online fraud, ensure information security for users, and protect the organization's own brand.
Also in the first months of this year, with the goal of helping older people in Vietnam explore the online world more safely and confidently, the Information Security Department in collaboration with global technology company Google launched 'Safe online, peace of mind and happy life with Google' program.
Increasing 'resistance' to fraud for online users
Referring to the situation of online fraud in Vietnam, information security experts agree that in recent years, forms of phishing attacks in cyberspace have increased significantly. Not only that, online fraud attacks are becoming more serious and complex due to the development of digital technology and the level of people's dependence on the Internet.
According to VNCS experts, in addition to the increasing trend of email phishing attacks, other phishing attacks such as phone phishing, text message phishing and phishing via fake websites are also on the rise.
“In response to attackers becoming increasingly intelligent and using advanced techniques to defraud and misappropriate users' personal information, assets, and identities, we must increase awareness of information security. information, cybersecurity and implementing stronger personal and organizational protection measures. In particular, users need to be equipped with information and knowledge on how to prevent fraudulent attacks in cyberspace to protect themselves effectively," VNCS experts stated.
This requires the participation of all parties, including state management agencies, businesses providing cyber information security products and services, and users themselves. “Each family will often have people with better skills and awareness of information security such as young and middle-aged people. Therefore, it is necessary to propagate and raise information security awareness among members with good awareness, from which they will share, help improve skills, and increase resistance for other family members such as grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren when participating in the online environment.