SCAM ALERT - ALLEGED PAYMENT OF FINES
The Police advise the public to be careful, as the fraud with false telephone messages for alleged payment of extrajudicial fines continues. According to a complaint submitted today to the Limassol Traffic Police Department by a 32-year-old woman, she received a text message on her mobile phone yesterday, which stated that she should immediately proceed with the payment of an extrajudicial fine, via an electronic link included in the message.
The 32-year-old followed the electronic link and, on a website that falsely appeared to be that of a specific online payment company, entered the online access codes for her bank account, as a result of which the perpetrators of the fraud gained access to her bank account. After the 32-year-old subsequently received a transaction confirmation code – “OTP” via message on her phone, she entered the code on the fake online payment website, resulting in the perpetrators extracting a sum of €14,085 from her account, by transfer to the perpetrators’ bank account. On the occasion of this new case of fraud and money extortion, the Police once again informs the public that they never communicate with citizens in this way or through any other communication platform to call citizens to pay any fines or for any other reason. As a measure of protection against online fraud of this nature, the Police draws the attention of citizens, especially when they receive messages containing electronic links. It is recommended that the public avoid following such electronic links and never mention or register their personal and banking details on unknown websites.