Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training issues urgent warning regarding online kidnapping methods targeting students

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training said on August 12 that there are increasingly sophisticated scams targeting parents and students, especially the "online kidnapping" trick. Schools, parents and students need to be extremely vigilant.

More and more sophisticated tricks

According to the City Department of Education and Training, some parents whose children are studying at high schools in the city have recently reported to the department that they have continuously received fraudulent calls, claiming to be from the City People's Committee, City Police, and the City Department of Education and Training, asking students to follow instructions.

TN, a parent whose child studies at Bui Thi Xuan High School, said that in the past 3 days, her child has been receiving calls from a scammer. On the first day, the caller claimed to be an admissions officer and asked the student to open a video call and add her as a friend via Zalo. However, the child was scared and hung up.

On the second day, the subject claiming to be from the HCM City Department of Education and Training and the HCM City People's Committee continued to request to be friends via Zalo to send documents from the Department of Education and Training to the child. The subject even gave the correct address of the HCM City People's Committee, the HCM City Department of Education and Training as well as the child's name, school address, class...

On the third day, the subject called, claiming to be from the City Police, saying that the child's citizen identification number had been known and taken advantage of by a bad person, and asked the child to come immediately to resolve the matter. The subject also gave the exact name of the parents, home address, citizen identification number...

According to TN's parents, in his child's class, there were 5-6 students who also received the same scam calls.

Schools, parents and students need to raise vigilance

The new school year is approaching, with increasingly sophisticated scams, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training said it is asking schools to strengthen measures to protect students; regularly communicate and remind students and parents to be vigilant. Absolutely keep personal information confidential, and advise parents and students not to post personal information on social networks.

Ms. Lam Hong Lam Thuy, Head of the General Department, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said that students need to stay calm if they receive a call from a stranger. Do not confirm any information over the phone, do not listen to threats and follow the stranger's requests, even if that person knows all your information.

"Students need to calmly report this to their parents, adults, and teachers immediately. Because these people have many different tricks to scam, they can lead and scare students, then lure them into committing bad acts, especially the "online kidnapping" trick that has flourished recently. Parents also need to regularly talk, exchange, and grasp information, helping their children to be more vigilant," said Ms. Thuy.

Previously, at the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee's regular socio -economic meeting in July 2025, which took place on the morning of August 9, Lieutenant General Mai Hoang - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Police Department said that the crime of "online kidnapping" has shown signs of flourishing recently; the police force has rescued 28 victims. In early August, the police force rescued many female students who were tricked and sold to Cambodia.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/so-gd-dt-tp-hcm-canh-bao-khan-den-nha-truong-va-hoc-sinh-196250812172423059.htm