In the height of the summer season, a new type of telephone fraud is becoming more and more frequent, which aims for quick and easy access to our bank card data, conveyed FOCUS.
Shopping online, buying cheap plane tickets or the desired swimsuit for the beach. In the height of the summer season, more and more hackers are securing easy access to our personal data, and more and more often even our phone number. A few days ago, Petya Alexandrova received a similar call and unexpectedly found herself in the trap of a new type of telephone fraud.
"On the other side was a man who introduced himself as an employee of the BNB - from the security service of the BNB, who was extremely concerned about the fact that a loan was taken out in my name from one of the big banks in Burgas – by power of attorney“, says Petya.
"At first it was strange to me because I had not heard that such services existed. And even if there was, there was never a conversation with such services over the phone. Whenever there was such a case, I was always called on the spot“, she also explained.
"He was quite concerned, quite assertive, I interrupted him several times. After several interruptions on my part, complete confusion set in for him and he began to get nervous, stammer, then a slight foreign accent. After hanging up, I called 112 as quickly as possible, checked with the bank, the police. After that, I contacted GDBOP and "Cybersecurity", the victim said.
Cybersecurity experts are adamant that bank fraud is no longer primarily aimed at businesses, but increasingly at individuals as well.
"The goal is to collect personal information. Of the people who are attacked through the standard channels, they want to know how old they are, if they have relatives, if they are single and how much money they have – that's why they ask how much money you have in the account. They are interested in your credit card number, the code on the back. They then trick you into sending your two-factor ID as well – what comes via SMS", comments Yasen Tanev, cyber security expert.
"The more they know about you before and the more they learn during the attack, the faster they will react. An attempted fraud is not a one-time act. If they are trying to hack you somewhere, you are most likely hacked on other channels as well”, the expert also points out.
From the "Cyber Security" Directorate the GDBOB advises, if you suspect fraud, that you must visit their Facebook pages, where the specific steps that users should take if they suspect that they have been the victim of a telephone fraud are described.
"Not only in the height of the summer season. In principle, phishing messages on behalf of banking institutions are widespread,”, Commissioner Vladimir Dimitrov points out.
It advises users not to follow links and not to provide personal information over the phone.
After users voluntarily provide their data, their funds remain in the online environment, and hackers buy cryptocurrencies or expensive clothes from European sites, bTV reports.