Warning of fraud and information theft through business registration information published on the National Business Registration Portal

In recent times, the Department of Finance has received information reflecting the situation of a number of subjects contacting people and businesses via phone, zalo or connecting via other social networking platforms to impersonate the Department of Finance to steal personal and business information to appropriate property. These subjects often impersonate officers, civil servants, and public employees of the Business Registration Office under the Department of Finance to request and force people and businesses to buy documents, software, register for training classes, refresher training, and instructions on installing applications containing malicious code to steal personal information, bank accounts, and perform money transfer transactions.

According to the regulations on publishing business registration content in Article 32 of the Law on Enterprises 2020, after being granted a Certificate of Business Registration, enterprises must make a public announcement on the National Business Registration Portal. After approval of the business registration application, the business registration content will be automatically and simultaneously sent by the business registration agency to the business's email and publicly announced on the National Business Registration Portal. This is official, public and valid information.

Taking advantage of this quick and practical information, bad actors have attacked the trust of individuals, organizations, and businesses to contact legal representatives to request the OTP code sent by the subjects to complete business registration procedures. From there, you can steal personal information, bank accounts and make unwanted money transfers.

The Department of Finance and Business Registration Office affirmed that they have no policy and do not appoint civil servants and officials to contact people and businesses to request application installation, buying and selling, money transfer, especially reading OTP codes on personal phones. It is recommended that people and businesses increase vigilance and do not provide personal information to strangers via phone or other social networking platforms./.