Parents cheated in child-health-related scams
Dozens of parents in HCM City have been tricked into transferring money to save their children after being told their children faced life-threatening conditions that needed urgent operations.
Cho Ray Hospital has received seven parents looking for their children since last week. They told doctors almost the same stories that someone who claimed to be a teacher of their child had called them on the phone, informing them that their child had been taken to the emergency room at the hospital after a serious accident.
"We were asked to transfer the money immediately in order for the doctors to perform the surgery," the parents said.
Six of the seven parents had transferred money of between VND20-200 million each to the bank account they were provided before rushing to the hospital and realised they had been scammed.
Only one parent who lives near the hospital did not transfer the money but came to see his child for himself.
Some other hospitals including the HCM City Children's Hospital and the Nam Sai Gon International General Hospital have also reported the same situation. The Nam Sai Gon International General Hospital on Tuesday announced that four parents were tricked by the same scams in which someone told them by phone that their child needed urgent brain operation here. Two parents had transferred VND50 million to the bank account provided by the caller.
Besides warnings issued by the hospitals, the HCM City Department of Education and Training has also advised parents not to share their personal information on social websites.
"We see that the scams mostly target parents whose children are studying at international schools," the department said. "The schools have said that they always pay attention to information security but we still have to call on both parents and school to protect their private information better to avoid such scams."
Police are now searching for the people who made the phone calls.
At HCM City Children's Hospital. Illustrative photo
The scams have been uncovered after some local hospitals reported about some parents coming to look for their children.
Cho Ray Hospital has received seven parents looking for their children since last week. They told doctors almost the same stories that someone who claimed to be a teacher of their child had called them on the phone, informing them that their child had been taken to the emergency room at the hospital after a serious accident.
"We were asked to transfer the money immediately in order for the doctors to perform the surgery," the parents said.
Six of the seven parents had transferred money of between VND20-200 million each to the bank account they were provided before rushing to the hospital and realised they had been scammed.
Only one parent who lives near the hospital did not transfer the money but came to see his child for himself.
Some other hospitals including the HCM City Children's Hospital and the Nam Sai Gon International General Hospital have also reported the same situation. The Nam Sai Gon International General Hospital on Tuesday announced that four parents were tricked by the same scams in which someone told them by phone that their child needed urgent brain operation here. Two parents had transferred VND50 million to the bank account provided by the caller.
Besides warnings issued by the hospitals, the HCM City Department of Education and Training has also advised parents not to share their personal information on social websites.
"We see that the scams mostly target parents whose children are studying at international schools," the department said. "The schools have said that they always pay attention to information security but we still have to call on both parents and school to protect their private information better to avoid such scams."
Police are now searching for the people who made the phone calls.
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