The trick of 'watching short films to make millions'
At the end of September, Anh Ngoc, 25 years old in Ho Chi Minh City, saw an advertisement for the short film application CoinDrama while surfing Facebook. Curious about the introduction "just watch and you can make money", she decided to download it.
Ngoc could watch the movie right after opening the app and just a few seconds later, a notification appeared, stating that her account had been added 250,000 VND. However, the amount cannot be withdrawn immediately due to "the minimum balance requirement is 500,000 VND". She was asked to watch ads and her account gradually increased by 100,000 and 50,000 VND.
"As time went on, the newspaper money became less and less, only about 1,000 VND. Watched ads all weekend afternoon but could not reach 500,000 VND to withdraw," Ngoc said. During viewing, the application also continuously requests to download additional third-party software or websites with strange domain names. In the end, she deleted the app because she felt "like being cheated".
Hong Hanh, 28 years old in Lam Dong, also encountered a similar situation with MixReels. Following instructions, she downloaded a number of applications from strange websites, including office file reader software that required many access permissions.
"The phone then continuously displayed ads, every 10 seconds, including disconnecting the Internet. I could not use the phone, nor could I restore factory settings because the ads kept inserting," Hanh said.
Finally, she took the phone to a repair shop to reset the system. "If I can't make money, I'll have to pay more money to repair my computer and lose data," she said.
Along with the popularity of short films, many applications with "money making" features appear. On Google Play, CoinDrama has more than 10 million downloads, CashDrama has more than 5 million downloads; Reel Drama and Bonus Drama reached 100,000 times, while FreeFlick and Reel Reward reached about 50,000 times. On the App Store, a number of similar apps also achieved millions of downloads.
The common point of these applications is to give users an initial amount of money, then encourage watching movies, advertising or downloading more software to make money. The more you use it, the less money added to your account, and it is often difficult to reach the minimum amount to withdraw.
On social networks, many people said it took from a few minutes to a few hours to watch ads before realizing they had been scammed. Some have to reinstall their devices because they download apps with adware or malware.
Not only in Vietnam, similar situations also appear in some places. According to Thai PBS, the Bangkok Police Department (Thailand) once warned people not to watch short film applications to make money, because most are scams and cannot withdraw money, or say they can withdraw but "ask for a deposit", then get scammed.
According to Dr. Le Duy Tan, founder of AIoT Lab VN, lecturer at International University - Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, the form of making money through applications for watching movies, videos or advertising is not new but is still attracting many users thanks to the entertainment psychology combined with earning extra income without needing many skills.
"The mentality of 'earning a little doesn't cost anything' makes many people willing to try. However, the amount displayed on the application does not mean the actual amount received," Mr. Tan said.
According to experts, in the online advertising model, businesses pay for ads to be displayed or create interactions, while application developers receive revenue through intermediary platforms. However, revenue depends on many factors, not every view brings a fixed amount of money. Platforms like Google AdMob also do not allow users to be paid cash directly just for viewing or clicking ads.
Some applications also entice users with bonus points, increasing amounts of virtual money, lucky spins, progress bars... to encourage them to interact. These features are not automatically fraudulent, but are suspicious if the application does not publicly disclose how to convert and withdraw money. Users also need to be wary of requests to watch more ads, invite friends, complete tasks or deposit money to qualify for rewards, especially when forced to transfer real money to withdraw that income.
"Users think they are watching movies to make money, but they may just be generating ad views and revenue for the application," Mr. Tan warned. "The amount displayed may be a virtual number to entice them to continue participating."
Mr. Nguyen Duc Hoai, co-founder and CEO of Bizino - the company behind the Bizino AI programming support software, assessed that in addition to wasting time and possibly money, users also face information security risks when installing software of unknown origin following the "lead" from the movie watching application.
According to Mr. Hoai, not all bonus movie watching apps contain malicious code. However, software downloaded from sources outside the official app store, especially APK files of unknown origin on Android, can be potentially dangerous. Depending on access rights and vulnerabilities on the device, this software can collect personal data, read notifications, steal authentication codes or track user actions.
In addition, this expert recommends that users ensure some principles to avoid online fraud in general: do not transfer money to unlock bonuses; Do not provide passwords or authentication codes to outside parties; do not consider a small receipt (if any) as permanent evidence of security for further transfers.
"Each person can equip 'digital resistance' with the ability to stop before an attractive promise and ask: Who pays me, where does the money come from and what do I have to trade?", Mr. Hoai added.
Bao Lam