#woman #Alba #left #lei #bank #started #message #received #phone
A woman from Alba had the shock of her life when she lost the 16,000 lei she had in her account.
By the Observator editorial team on 07.02.2024, 16:13
It all started with a message he received by phone asking him to update his bank details to avoid it being blocked.
He was offered a link to do this, he filled in the requested data, namely name, surname, bank card data as well as the codes received later, via SMS, as being from the bank, for authentication in the banking application. Thus, it was only a matter of time for the hackers to be able to withdraw the money from the account without problems.
What the police say
The Alba County Police Inspectorate continues the series of information aimed at warning the population about computer fraud, starting from a concrete example. On February 6, 2024, the Criminal Investigation Service registered the complaint of a 61-year-old woman from Alba Iulia, who was the victim of a computer crime through the phishing method.
She received a message, on her mobile phone, from a sender who claimed to be a representative of the bank where she has an account, informing her that the bank account data must be updated, in order to avoid its blocking.
The woman accessed the link in the message and filled in the requested data, namely name, surname, bank card data as well as the codes received later, via SMS, as being from the bank, for authentication in the banking application.
The fraudsters thus obtained control over the woman’s money and carried out fraudulent transactions, amounting to 5,964 lei and liquidated a deposit of 10,000 lei.
“Dear Citizens, spoofed messages and emails are a common way criminals try to obtain personal data. It is crucial that you check the email address (URL) carefully and do not respond to requests without verifying their authenticity with the issuing bank.
In case of receiving e-mail messages, the sender’s e-mail address must be verified, even if the e-mail appears to be sent by a bank, because scammers use the names of banks when creating the e-mail addresses they use in criminal activity. If this does not match the email address of the bank of which you are a customer, you could be the target of a phishing attack.
You should know that in order to update the personal bank data, the physical presence of the person at the counter of the banking unit is required. In addition, banks do not ask for bank card details. They have this information and would have no reason to ask for it via email or SMS.
By paying more attention, you reduce the risk of falling into the phishing trap.
Observator Events How a woman from Alba was left without the 16,000 lei she had in the bank. It all started from a message he received on the phone
