Filenews 5 July 2022
The Cyprus Police, specifically the Cybercrime Subdirectorate, has recently received several complaints about suspicious password interception messages on Social Media and especially on Instagram.
These messages are malicious and are intended to extort money from citizens' bank accounts. They also aim to access various other social media accounts, through which the perpetrators can then gain access to other users' accounts as well, so as to trick them.
Specifically, since the perpetrators intrusively gain access to citizens' accounts on social media, such as Instagram, they then send a message to persons registered as "Friends / Followers" of the account holder, urging them to invest in various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, etc., by selecting a specific electronic link mentioned in the message.
Unsuspecting, the recipients of the message, thinking that the message was sent by their known / friendly person, by following the electronic link they receive in the message, are asked to fill in their various details, such as passwords to social media accounts, as well as access details to bank accounts. The perpetrators can thus gain access to bank accounts and extort money.
Recommendations:
- The public is urged to be especially careful in such messages and not to disclose codes they receive to any person.
- It is recommended to enable the two-factor security settings for their online accounts.
- In case of receiving a suspicious message / request, to communicate in a different way with the person from whom he received the message to confirm the request.
- In case he took any actions indicated to him by the perpetrators of the fraud, it is recommended to immediately check and change the password of the account.
