The friend's video call that lasted seconds

In 2023, Vietnamese media reported a wave of scams using hacked Facebook and Zalo accounts. The scammer messages the account owner's friends, asking to borrow money urgently.

When a victim asks for a video call to check, they see the friend's face for a few seconds before the call drops, blamed on a bad connection. In one case reported by Viet Nam News, a person in Hanoi then sent VND20 million (about US$850) to a "colleague".

In another, a man in Hanoi told the Vietnam News Agency that he saw his best friend's blurry face, heard a few words, and sent VND20 million. Experts quoted said the videos were made with deepfake tools from photos and videos posted on social media.

Deepfake tools learn a face and voice from public photos and clips. They are not yet good at long, live conversation, so scammers keep calls very short and blame the network.

The scam combines two things: a real account you trust, and a face you recognise. Each makes the other seem more believable. The short call is the clue.

The idea behind this caseLesson: Deepfakes and voice clones →

1. 1Call the person back on their regular phone number, not through the app that sent the request.
2. 2Talk for more than a minute and ask something only the real person would know, as experts in Vietnam advise.
3. 3Be suspicious of any video call that is short, blurry or cut off, especially before a money request.
4. 4Turn on two-step verification for Facebook and Zalo to make accounts harder to hijack.
5. 5Warn friends quickly if your account is hacked.