Filenews 17 August 2025 - by Michalis Hatzivasilis
Millions of euros change hands every year with fraudsters partying at the expense of gullible people and those who manage to deceive with tricks. In 2023, they had made a fortune of €23 million from fraud, last year the amounts were even higher (the numbers are not yet known) while this year we are going for record amounts.
A characteristic of the attack that Cypriots are being attacked by fraudsters who are set up in all corners of the world, is that only in July last year, sums exceeding three million euros. They made wings. The question is why do we fall into the trap of scammers so easily? In the past, when "some distant relative" left us a huge inheritance in an African country, we easily understand that it was a fraud. Then the forms of fraud changed. The fraudsters have become more convincing or we chase the easy profit and they take advantage of our fear and give in.
The answers are given to "F" by the assistant head of the Crime Fighting Department at the Police Headquarters and director of the Cybercrime Sub-Directorate, Andreas Anastasiades, who emphasizes that we must be careful with any stranger who approaches us online or by phone, in order to convince us that an out-of-court case is pending against us, even to make us rich in a flash of lightning.
As he says, the most prevalent trick is the method for investment fraud. They promise very high returns and fast results. Online investment scams are carried out through fake websites that pretend to be real companies to make potential victims believe, often using company logos to look trustworthy.
There are many methods but mainly it is applied through:
1. Already compromised accounts on social networks (Facebook, Instagram, etc.): Scammers ask the account owner to make a fake "testimonial" video for investment. The video is posted without the account being refunded.
2. Sponsored ads with fake testimonials and comments from fake or hacked profiles, promising high returns.
3. Fake videos also known as "deepfake" with the use of technical intelligence with false appearances of either political figures, journalists or other well-known persons who supposedly support these investment platforms.
How fraud evolves:
• The victim registers on the platform and is encouraged to start with a small amount (€250-€500) in cryptocurrencies.
• He is presented with virtual winnings with fake charts.
• Is encouraged to invest more with promises of high returns.
• A "personal advisor" is appointed who pushes for even more investments.
• When the victim asks to withdraw the "winnings", they ask for alleged expenses (20-30% of the supposed profits). If it continues, it never receives a return. The complainant is then "trapped" and a deadlock ensues.
According to Mr. Anastasiades, there are three phases of fraud:
>Initial Scam: Invests money that is lost.
>Fake recovery: The scammers communicate again, pretending to be a tracking company and asking for a fee for the "refund" of the money.
>Fake state authorities: They pretend to be government agencies, claiming to have found the money and ask for "procedural costs" to return it.
In total, the victim can fall into the trap 2 or even 3 times, losing even more money.
Another type of widespread scam is misleading emails or SMS: Scammers intend to trick unsuspecting citizens use the following methods
• Misleading emails (Phishing)
• Misleading SMS messages (Smishing)
• Misleading phone calls (vishing)
The perpetrators with these methods, according to Mr. Anastasiades, are pretending to be the Tax Department, banking institutions, Cyprus Post or private parcel transport companies, the Cyprus Police, in relation to extrajudicial fines and in recent days an oil company.
As far as misleading messages are concerned, there are electronic links that refer to fake websites that resemble the real ones, where citizens' bank data are requested. With regard to the misleading phone calls, the perpetrators ask for personal information as well as details of the bank accounts of citizens. After the citizen enters or mentions his bank details, the perpetrators manage to extract money from their bank accounts.
-Romance scams: With this type of scam, the skilful people pretending to be military, doctors or pilots, target people of the opposite sex to gain the trust of the victim. They then ask for money or tell them that they will be sent packages with gifts or jewellery and the victims are asked to pay alleged customs duties. In other cases, the perpetrators manage to take personal photos of the victim and then threaten them that if they do not send money, they will publish this material.
– Grooming or sending/receiving nude photos mainly of underage girls. There is the phenomenon of acquiring and then disseminating these photos to friends and after the relationship breaks down, these photos can be sent throughout the school environment or even online. Victims go through serious psychological problems, while there were cases in the past where perpetrators, if they did not manage to get what they wanted, blackmailed the victims by publishing the photos from private moments. There have been convictions for such cases, and in some cases minors have been led to suicide attempts.
Artificial intelligence and crime
According to the assistant director of the TAE Police Headquarters, the use of artificial intelligence can become a problem, since realistic but fake videos or photos with well-known people are reproduced through it. This phenomenon is called Deepfake, and scammers use this method in order to mislead and subsequently deceive their victims. Also, with the use of AI, the perpetrators use this technology for the purpose of their actions, such as the use of virtual email addresses, the use of data of already compromised accounts, the reproduction of emails, fake caller IDs and others. All this creates many problems in the investigation of cases in all prosecuting authorities.
Also on the above issue, we receive, he underlines, many complaints about falsification of photographs, mainly of women, where from normal photos, they are transformed into nude ones. The suspects locate these photos on Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) and the reproduction of material is mainly for revenge, or for demanding a ransom or insulting a person. Also important, he says, is the problem we face with minors, where their peers use artificial intelligence to falsify photos of mainly pornographic content and then disseminate them to other persons, which refers to serious crimes such as child pornography.
They struck change in bitcoin and allegedly out of court fines
The fraudsters seem to be following the Cypriot news. There is no other explanation how, after the public was asked to investigate and pay online fines from cameras, mobile phones and e-mails were immediately "flooded" with fake messages for alleged out-of-court payments that had to be paid.
On the other hand, investing in cryptocurrencies also brings profit to international fraudsters. They approach someone and after introducing themselves as a regular bitcoin management company, they convince him of the speed of the return on investment. Eventually, he sees his bank account emptying without ever realizing what happened. As Mr. Anastasiades recommends, in case of fraud, it is important to report it immediately, in order to try to stop the transfer of money. In many cases, money was recovered when the fraud was still ongoing. If the complaint is delayed, then not much can be done. As the officer of the Security Authorities explains, many times from investigations carried out concluded that the perpetrators were in Asian countries (Bangladesh, India or other countries) that despite requests for legal assistance do not respond.
As he said, fraudsters are becoming more and more credible in order to lure the potential victim and despite the fact that the public is constantly informed to be sceptical, there are cases where they fall victim. Characteristic is the fact that last month the most frauds with profits of millions for fraudsters occurred.
*According to a complaint submitted to the Limassol Police Department by a 32-year-old woman, she received a text message on her mobile phone, stating that she should immediately proceed with the payment of an extrajudicial fee, through an electronic link included in the message. The 32-year-old followed the electronic link and the perpetrators managed to extract from her account, an amount of money of €14,085, by transfer to the bank account of the perpetrators.
* In another case, according to the 53-year-old's complaint, between April, 2024 and January, 2025, he was deceived by an unknown person, who, through their online communication, convinced him to invest in cryptocurrencies. The 53-year-old sent to various bank accounts and e-wallets, sums of money totalling $508,893, with an equivalent value of €434,890, and later found out that it was a fraud.
*In April 2025, according to a complaint made in July, unknown persons illegally gained access to a cryptocurrency management e-wallet, which is used by a Cyprus-based company. The perpetrators allegedly hacked the relevant account and proceeded to transfer various cryptocurrencies to other digital wallets, with their total value amounting to €458,000.
Scammers speak Greek via AI
The evolution of fraud has led the clever to the point of speaking Greek through artificial intelligence. According to complaints to the Cybercrime Sub-Directorate, unknown persons contact citizens by phone or with companies that trade products or provide services and claim that they are interested in buying products or services. Under the pretext of buying and paying for them, the perpetrators ask citizens to provide them with the details of their bank accounts, or their corporate accounts, including the IBAN bank number. When citizens report the details to the alleged customer, they receive a second phone call, from a person who falsely introduces himself as a bank officer and tells them that they have been scammed and that money has been stolen from their bank account. Under the pretext that he will help them recover the amount stolen from their account, the alleged "official" asks citizens to report their account details and access details to the account, resulting in the perpetrators being able to gain internet access and steal money from the bank account.
The perpetrators of the scam speak in Greek, while they appear to be using virtual phone numbers that correspond to those of real credit institutions.
>> On July 26, we had a new case of theft of cryptocurrencies of great monetary value, after illegally accessing an e-wallet where they were stored. The complaint was filed by a 48-year-old man, according to which on June 11, 2025, cryptocurrencies worth 381,653 euros were stolen from the cryptocurrency management e-wallet account, which he maintains. According to the complaint, the perpetrators compromised the e-wallet account and proceeded to transfer the cryptocurrencies to another digital wallet. The code for unlocking the e-wallet was stored in the e-mail of the 48-year-old, which was illegally accessed.
>> Three were the victims of fraud by people pretending to be a petroleum company. Specifically, the complainants received a message on their mobile phone, in which the sender presented himself as a well-known oil company. The content of the message referred to loyalty points, which, according to the message, would be deleted within three days if the necessary actions were not taken. The complainants, following the link included in the message, entered their bank account details. As a result of these actions, the fraudsters managed to extract a total amount of money amounting to approximately 37 thousand euros.
>>The Police received many complaints last month from citizens, regarding misleading telephone messages (SMS) that are sent en masse and falsely appear as coming from banking organizations. These messages usually include information about unauthorized transactions or confirmation codes and invite the recipient to contact a specific phone number. These are malicious actions aimed at extracting sensitive personal and/or banking data and sums of money.
Another scam concerns emails from strangers pretending to be the Cyprus Police. In emails accompanied by the Police logo, these would-be thieves call unsuspecting citizens that they are involved and must be charged with various criminal offenses via the Internet (sexual assault, rape, child pornography, etc.).
5000 complaints every year in the cyberalert.cy
Prevention can be done in the field of electronic fraud, provided that they are mutated every day and the illegals use more convincing methods. The answer is yes. As the officer of the prosecuting authorities said, as the Police "we make a special effort in the field of prevention and informing the public about new frauds and how to prevent them. The Cybercrime Sub-Directorate has a dedicated complaint submission platform on the www.cyberalert.cy website where there is also material for prevention and informing the public. This platform works successfully as there are about 5000 complaints every year.
Also, the Police, in cooperation with the Digital Security Authority, blocks many electronic links on a daily basis, but the perpetrators with the help of AI produce new links. As the Cybercrime Sub-Directorate, we are involved in many actions and have developed partnerships with powerful organizations such as Europol, Interpol, the FBI and others, while the staff is properly trained to deal with such crimes. We also participate in international actions with these organizations for the identification, arrest and seizure of servers, mainly cryptocurrencies for high value targets (HVT – High Value Target) with very good results".
In total, last year, the Cybercrime Sub-Directorate investigated 445 cases and 208 cases of child pornography, while in 2023 412 cases and 203 cases of child pornography were examined."
