Filenews 16 November 2024 - by Despina Psillou
Incoming calls from WhatsApp need a thousand eyes, as fraudsters come up with various schemes to deceive citizens. Among other things, fraudsters create fake accounts under the name Cyprus police and a photo of a supposed police officer.
Filenews contacted the police, who are aware of these scams, clarifying how fraudsters sometimes pretend to be banking institutions.
In a statement, police are urging public attention in relation to a new scam committed with phone calls through the WhatsApp application.
The perpetrators of the scam call citizens to a video call, through the communication application – WhatsApp, falsely pretending to communicate on behalf of the Police.
The communication takes place in English and the perpetrators ask citizens to declare their various personal and banking details, as well as to present various documents, such as their identity card and bank debit/credit cards.
These calls constitute fraud and do not come from the Police. The public is requested to be particularly careful and take the following protection measures.
Not responding to calls and instructions received from perpetrators.
Do not respond to any links sent by the perpetrators. Not to disclose to other persons, codes that they may have received on their mobile phone
In case the perpetrators were declared any banking data during such a call, the public should IMMEDIATELY inform their banking institution to avoid unwanted use of their data.
