From 16 thousand to 15 million VND: The whole scenario of the fake shipper's 'cancellation of membership' scam

Impersonating a postal worker

Mr. N.D.D. (18 years old, Vinh Loc ward, Nghe An), has just filed a report with the ward police about being scammed by a person claiming to be an employee of Viettel Post, using the trick of "cancelling his membership card".

Mr. D. said that in early July, he ordered goods on social networks. On July 10, he received a call from a phone number 0932071605 claiming to be an employee of Viettel Post. This person gave accurate information and also said that Mr. D. had a package that was about to be delivered and asked him to transfer 16,000 VND in transaction fees for the order that was being processed. A few minutes later, another phone number 0388827720 called and asked him to transfer this amount to the account number "0908519315 - Eximbank - Huynh Duc Lam", with the transfer content being "ma 142".

Scammers lure victims by initially transferring small amounts of money. Photo: TH

Thinking that the amount was not large, Mr. D. subjectively followed this person's instructions. "A few minutes after I transferred the money, the same phone number called, informing that the bank account number I had just transacted with was for the shipper to register for a 3,500,000 VND/month Viettel Post shipping package and that the money would be automatically deducted if not canceled. To cancel the package, this person asked me to go to Facebook and search for the account Nguyen Hoang Vu (Viettel Post Customer Service) - an account with a blue tick so I thought it was real, and sent a message requesting "instructions for canceling the delivery membership card and deactivating the card"", Mr. D. said, and said that immediately the Facebook account named "Nguyen Hoang Vu (Viettel POST Customer Service)", replied to the message and asked for a screenshot of his payment of 16,000 VND and my phone number.

“A while later, this person called me on Messenger video , asked me to explain the incident, and then threatened me. I felt uncomfortable so I hung up the call, then the phone number 0932071605 called back and apologized, asked to transfer to the service handler, instructed me to find the account “Hoang Bach (Viettel Post Customer Service)” and re-enter the message to be instructed to cancel the delivery membership card and deactivate the card”, Mr. D. explained.

A Facebook account named “Hoang Bach (Viettel Post Customer Service) immediately called Mr. D. and said that there was a mistake by the post office, and sent a link, saying that this was the Viettel POST customer support page. This person then asked to share the phone screen, and began to lure Mr. D. into opening a MoMo e-wallet to borrow 15 million VND and then transfer it to the account number of “NCB National Bank”, with the transaction address Tkchuyendoi1, the recipient name is HUYNH DUC LAM. After transferring the money, he exclaimed as if I had done something wrong and said “I didn’t tell you to continue transferring money” and explained that I had to choose certain steps in the payment section to cancel my service, then asked me to find or borrow 15 million VND from someone to redo the procedure,” said Mr. D., adding that it was only then that he realized he had been scammed. Contacting the phone numbers as well as Facebook accounts claiming to be Viettel Post customer care staff were unsuccessful.

Facebook account impersonating Viettel Post customer service staff. Photo: TH

Customer information leaked?

Discussing this incident, a representative of Viettel Post said that the phone numbers calling Mr. D. as well as the Facebook account that Mr. D. contacted were not from this unit. This unit said that not only Mr. D., recently there have been many cases of fraud by impersonating delivery staff, using information and images impersonating Viettel Post to appropriate property.

Viettel Post representative also said that the unit does not require customers to transfer any fees in advance when delivering goods; there are no services/programs such as: "ship card", "membership package", or any type of card maintenance fee. All orders have a clear waybill code, order tracking via ViettelPost app/web. Viettel Post only contacts customers through official news sites, phone numbers with the brand name "Viettel Post - 0862526888". Only make payments via Viettel Post app/web. Viettel Post representative also recommends that customers avoid accessing strange links, providing OTP or banking information via unofficial pages/channels. For customers who are senders, especially online shops, it is necessary to use Viettel Post application to create orders instead of third-party intermediary tools, to limit the risk of data disclosure.

Regarding the fact that customers have not received the goods, but scammers have known to call, a representative of Viettel Post affirmed that the unit always puts customer information security as the top priority. "Information may be leaked somewhere, but at Viettel Post, all important customer data such as phone number, address, COD amount are encrypted, strictly complying with international security standards, preventing any unauthorized access from outside," said the representative of this unit.

Viettel Post affirms that the unit always prioritizes customer information security. Photo: VP

Viettel Post also said that it has proactively contacted and worked closely with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Science and Technology to investigate and trace the origin of counterfeit cases, handle and prevent fraudulent behavior.

In fact, the incident not only happened to Viettel Post customers but also appeared at many other e-commerce delivery units such as Giao Hang Tiet Kiem, J&T Express, VNPost... This situation makes many users worry that customer information data of the delivery units has been leaked.

In mid-April, Mr. Bui Quang Trung (Nghe An) continuously received calls from a man with a southern accent claiming to be the shipper delivering the shoes he had ordered the day before from Bac Ninh. The caller said that the goods had been left at home and asked him to transfer 2.2 million VND for the goods. The delivery address was in Nghe An, but the shipper spoke with a southern accent, which made Mr. Trung suspicious. He called his wife to come down to get the goods but there was no one there, and the goods were not in the yard as the man had said. He checked the order again and saw that the parcel had not yet left the transit center in Hanoi. He breathed a sigh of relief because he had not yet transferred the payment to the scammer.

Mr. Trung said he ordered a pair of men's shoes with a total price of 2,220,000 VND. He only interacted with the store in Bac Ninh via Messenger and the store sent the shoes to him via Vietnam Post's service. Although the order had not yet arrived at the receiving station in Nghe An, the scammer had very accurate information about the order, price, recipient's name, phone number, and address to make a scam call. The leak of this information made him very upset.

In addition to this trick, the Ministry of Public Security in April 2025 also issued many warnings to people about the tricks of impersonating shippers to scam. Accordingly, scammers often use a number of tricks such as collecting and selling data of people who regularly shop online, then impersonating shippers to call to notify of delivery at times when the victim is usually not home, sending transfer information to request payment.

The suspect then informs the victim that he has not received the money, tricks the victim into continuing to transfer money or sends a message informing the victim that he has registered for a certain service package, with a fee of 2-10 million VND per month. At the same time, he instructs the victim to continue transferring money to cancel the service package... to appropriate the money.

Fraudsters impersonate shippers to deliver goods (mostly counterfeit, cheap or worthless goods), requesting payment in advance or payment upon delivery but not allowing inspection of the goods. Fraudsters approach livestream sales channels, approach customers who order online, request order verification on fake websites or request to download delivery tracking apps to take control of phones and appropriate money in bank accounts.

Source: https://baonghean.vn/tu-16-ngan-den-mat-15-trieu-dong-toan-bo-kich-ban-lua-dao-huy-goi-hoi-vien-cua-shipper-gia-10303494.html