In response, the Youth Union and Student Association of the HUFLIT Faculty of Economics and Finance held a talkshow titled “Preventing digital financial fraud – understand it properly to protect yourself”, featuring Major Huynh Do Tan Thinh (Ho Chi Minh City Police), to equip students with the knowledge to recognise common scam tactics and the skills to protect themselves proactively in the digital environment.

Keeping a cool head against psychological traps

Through a documentary segment and the speaker’s presentation, students were briefed on the digital financial scams currently most in circulation: impersonating government agencies, sending links containing malware, recruiting “collaborators” or offering easy work for high pay, promising super-profitable investments, and romance fraud. What these tactics have in common is exploiting panic, greed or a lapse in vigilance in order to seize the victim’s assets.

In the speaker’s assessment, technology is ultimately only a supporting tool, while the most dangerous weapon scammers use is targeting greed and manipulating the victim psychologically. The speaker identified the 03 most common groups of tactics today:

• Impersonating government agencies or reputable organisations to frighten victims into transferring money urgently.
• Tricking victims into installing malware through unfamiliar links in order to take control of their devices.
• Psychological manipulation traps based on greed, such as easy work for high pay or super-profitable financial investments.
• Romance fraud that plays on fear and worry about family members or loved ones in trouble.

From recognition to active protection

Beyond recognising the risks, students were also shown how to install and use the SOS application from Ho Chi Minh City Police to check links, receive risk warnings and report phone numbers and accounts showing signs of fraud.

Speaker Huynh Do Tan Thinh stressed that the greatest strength of anti-fraud technology lies in its community nature: when individuals actively report a spam number or a fraudulent account to the SOS system, they are directly helping to build a solid shield protecting millions of other users around them.

Through the speaker’s insights and the interactive activities, the talkshow helped students raise their awareness, recognise forms of digital financial fraud and build the skills to protect themselves in study, work and online transactions. It is also one of HUFLIT’s practical activities supporting students in building a safe and responsible digital environment.