Many mobile subscribers reported receiving messages impersonating financial institutions and banks sending fake, fraudulent content to steal their money. This problem broke out in 2022, banks spoke out about the widespread situation of fake branded messages (SMS brandname), affecting the reputation of banks.

Messages are sent by subjects with altered source information (phone number, prefix or identifier) ​​to create trust and deceive users.

Message content is often advertising, instructions or contains links to fake websites that look like official websites of financial institutions and banks to lure and steal user information such as accounts, passwords, OTP codes, etc.

Next, the user does not recognize the fake website so they will 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.

At this time, the subject will use the user's personal information to log in to the official website of financial institutions and banks to get the OTP authentication code (if needed). The user who is not vigilant will provide the OTP code information for the subject to complete the process of appropriating money in the account.

The reason why these subjects can use fake BTS stations is because this is a loophole in 2G technology. Every time they broadcast using a fake BTS station, bad subjects can send a series of messages to mobile users within a radius of several hundred meters.

Messages can be advertisements for prohibited services such as online gambling, or they can be messages containing fraudulent content, luring users to access fake links to steal personal information.

The Information Security Department said that impersonating financial institutions and banks to send fake messages and scam users has recently been spread by bad guys through fake mobile broadcasting devices (BTS). When users receive fake messages and then access fraudulent websites, they will be lured into providing personal information such as accounts, passwords, OTP codes, etc. and perform money transfers without knowing it.

Faced with the above problem, the Ministry of Information and Communications has worked with the Ministry of Public Security to crack down on criminal groups. On June 23, the Radio Frequency Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) coordinated with the Internal Political Security Department, the Ministry of Public Security and the Hanoi City Police to discover and arrest 3 subjects using BTS station emulation devices to spread spam messages.

During the monitoring process, the subjects continuously moved on roads and densely populated areas in Bac Ninh province and then moved to Hanoi. The Radio Frequency Department, the Postal and Telecommunications Security Department and IT of the Internal Political Security Department (Ministry of Public Security) and Hanoi Police discovered and caught the subjects red-handed while they were using BTS station emulation devices to spread messages.

Sharing with VietNamNet , a representative of the Ministry of Information and Communications Inspectorate said that with the strong involvement of functional units under the Ministry of Information and Communications in coordination with the police, the problem of fraudulent text messages has been initially handled.

Initially, the scammers placed the broadcasting device at a fixed location, then placed the device on a continuously moving car to avoid detection by authorities.

“Currently, network operators can detect subjects using fake broadcasting stations in real time. When subjects turn on fake broadcasting stations, the network operator's system detects it immediately and reports it to the authorities.

The surveillance devices will follow the scammers on their journey. The recent scammers were caught red-handed while traveling in cars. In recent months, the phenomenon of using fake BTS stations to send scam messages has been curbed,” said a representative of the Ministry of Information and Communications inspectorate.

A representative of a network operator told VietNamNet that they have come up with a technology solution to detect in real time subjects using fake broadcasting stations to impersonate messages from financial institutions and banks to defraud users. With the current solution, it is possible to detect as soon as the fraudster turns on the fake broadcasting device and can coordinate with the authorities to arrest the subjects as quickly as possible.