Today, unfortunately, any economic issue that directly concerns citizens, such as unpaid bills, raffles, gifts or aid, is susceptible to being used for criminal purposes. And given the rise of computer crimes, it is convenient for users to be cautious and informed in order to prevent them from becoming victims of fraud or scams.
And this is precisely what is happening, according to the alert Civil Guard, with the new check of 200 euros approved by the Government. This single payment of 200 euros in amount will be delivered, according to the Government’s calculations, to more than 4 million Spaniards who are in a situation of economic vulnerability by meeting certain requirements.
Given that this aid affects almost one in ten citizens of our country, and given that the request for it must be made telematicallyhas become a ‘candy’ for scammers.
“Lack of payment information”
“Campaign detected smishing supplanting the Tax Agency. (The campaign) requests to update the payment information to receive financial aid of 200 euros from the Government. Do not piques, the objective of the fraud is to steal personal and bank data”, indicates the Civil Guard.
??#ALERT ?? Detected campaign of #smishing supplanting the Tax Agency. Request to update the payment information to receive financial aid of €200 from the Government. #NoPiquesthe objective of the fraud is to steal personal and banking data. pic.twitter.com/nMMre1yYn0
– Civil Guard ???????? (@Civil Guard) March 5, 2023
This massive fraud attempt has been detected by the Internet User Safety Office (OSI), who has shared the content of the message in question.
“Tax Agency notifications: we have not been able to process the aid of 200 euros to your bank account. Due to the lack of payment information, update from here: (link)”.
The criminals have taken advantage of the current confusion, since the economic aid promised by the Government can be requested since last February 15 (almost a month ago) and delivery has not started yet between recipients. Hence the potential risk that those who receive it fall into the trap.
“The objective of this fraud is to steal the user’s personal and bank data, through a web page with a form to which it is redirected through a link that contains a message. If you have received an SMS with the characteristics mentioned above, but you have not accessed the link, block it and delete it from your message tray,” recommends OSI.
What to do in case of scam
If, on the contrary, the URL has been accessed and personal and bank card data have been provided, OSI recommends adopting the following measures:
– Get in touch with your bank to report the event and block all those movements that have been made without authorization.
– In the coming months check the movements of the bank account and, in the event of any unknown or unauthorized payments, immediately contact your bank to cancel them.
– Change your security codes and PIN credit card as soon as possible.
– Collect all evidence of fraud: bank statements, URL of the fraudulent page to which you provided the data and all the information you can provide in this regard to file a complaint with the FCSE.
– You can collect this evidence with witnesses online and present it to the State Security Forces and Corps. Then you must bring a copy of this complaint and deliver it to your affected bank.
– If this report does not help you to recover the scammed money, you can file a claim through the Bank of Spain.
– Look for information about you that you have been able to contribute to the malicious web using the egosurfing to make sure no private information has been shared. If you have found exposed data, you can request your right to be forgotten through the Spanish Agency for Data Protection.
– If you have received a notification from the AEAT and you have doubts, you can visit their website and see examples of frauds that have been created impersonating them and even report them if you have received one.
You can also contact the Tax agency to check the information of the SMS or emails received and they will help you solve this problem through their chat.
