We have stopped sending messages on mobile phones to replace them with WhatsApp or Telegram or video calls. But we continue to receive SMS that alert us to payments with our card or orders that are being delivered. But, be careful, not all of them are true and it is common to impersonate the identity to commit SMS fraud. The National Police have arrested 17 people responsible for defrauding more than 145,000 euros using the smishing technique through mobile phone messages. It is just one more case of the many that we receive every day and the rule is always the same : do not click on the link, do not register with your data. Delete the message.
The National Police have reported the dismantling of this gang of 17 people. A criminal group dedicated, presumably, to carrying out Internet scams using the smishing technique and whose investigation began last September after all kinds of complaints from clients of the same bank. According to the official information given, there are a total of 170 victims who fell or suffered this fraud with which they managed to accumulate more than 145,000 euros in total.
The agents of the National Police arrested this criminal group that controlled a website that simulated the bank’s official page, which identically imitated the banking group but without being it, thus causing the possibility of making fraudulent economic charges to those who fell into the fraud. In total, 17 people have been arrested in the towns of Barcelona (where thirteen participants were arrested) and in Zaragoza and Madrid, with three and one arrested respectively. In addition, ten mobile phones and a simulated pistol have been seized along with the arrests.
Steal money via SMS
This is just one more of the many scams we receive via SMS… In this case, the technique consisted of sending SMS messages to mobile phones, impersonating the bank’s security service. The victims received a message indicating that there was an incident with their account and that it was very important that it be resolved as soon as possible so as not to take risks. The SMS had a link that led to this false website and similar to that of the bank so that users could access with their credentials and the data was captured by the criminal group to later use it to make all kinds of fraudulent charges or control all the details of the accounts of the people scammed.
But it is not the only one. It is common for us to also receive messages indicating that our order is in customs and we must pay the Post Office to unlock it, thus making us give our credit card details to an apparently reliable website that is, in reality, a scam.
There are many SMS that we receive every day from our “bank” and the message changes but the procedure is always the same: a link in which you must click and give your data or access credentials so that cybercriminals can take over and They can steal all our money without difficulty.
How to avoid these scams
It is one of the many scams that the National Police alerts weekly or monthly and, as we said, there are almost 200 victims who have fallen for them. The first thing we must do is report it when we discover that we have been deceived , but it is important that we follow a series of basic measures to avoid falling into this… First and foremost: always be wary of messages received from your bank or from any recipient. In case of doubt, contact the sender of the message to see if it is real and always go to the official page from the browser and not by clicking on links that you receive through a message or email.
We should never register on websites if they are not the official ones, no matter how similar they are, and when in doubt, we will always contact our bank or the courier agency that asks us for money to deliver a package.