L124 · Staying safe · 2 min
Fake bank staff asking for your face
Banks now use face checks for large transfers, and scammers pretend to help you "update your biometrics" so they can steal your face scan and your account.
01 · The idea
In Vietnam, banks ask customers to confirm larger online transfers with a face scan, and to link their account to their chip ID card. Scammers use this real change as a cover story.
A caller says your account will be locked unless you update now. They send a link or an app, then ask you to look into the camera, turn your head and blink, or video call them while holding your ID card.
Those images can be used to pass the bank's face check and move your money. Your bank's own app does any update itself, and staff do not need you to video call them or open a link.
If you get this call, hang up and phone the hotline printed on the back of your card, or visit a branch in person.
02 · Do it now
03 · Quick check
Words in this lesson
See also
L112Staying safe · 2 min
Deepfake video calls
A short, blurry video call where a friend's face asks to borrow money can be a live AI fake, so seeing the face is no longer enough.
L121Staying safe · 2 min
Online romance scams
Someone you met online who is caring, successful and never able to meet in person may be running a scam that ends with a request for money or an investment.
L111Staying safe · 2 min
When a relative's voice is a copy
A few seconds of your child's or parent's voice from a video is enough for AI to make a convincing copy, so a familiar voice on the phone proves nothing by itself.
L016Staying safe · 2 min
Deepfakes and voice clones
AI can now fake a face or a voice from a few seconds of real recording, so seeing and hearing is no longer proof.