A particularly dangerous new form of scam is currently rampant in France. In recent days, authorities and banks have sounded the alarm to warn against this practice, called “spoofing”, reports Capital.
The technique is both simple and well thought out. The criminals contact the victims by pretending to be their bank. This can be done by email, with a header identical to that used by the banking establishment, by SMS or simply via a phone call.
Transfers to fraudulent accounts
“On your phone appears the real call number of your bank”, warns the head of the administrative investigations and fraud group of Bas-Rhin, questioned by DNA. Your so-called bank informs you that you have been the victim of a theft, a scam or some error.
The objective of the scammers is always the same: to get their hands on the bank login credentials of their victims. Once they have managed to obtain them, all they have to do is log in to make transfers to fraudulent accounts and it then becomes very complicated to find the money.
Faced with this phenomenon, the authorities recommend never disclosing personal information by telephone or email. In case of doubt in front of a suspicious message, it is always possible to check directly with your bank. Banking establishments also never ask their customers for connection information.