On the display of the woman's phone appeared a number starting with 4783 ... the same ones that have landline numbers of the Lesser Poland Police. "Fortunately, the woman was not fooled, hung up and contacted the cyber department herself. Scammers cannot take over the number - such a number is only displayed during the call, and in fact they call from a completely different one" - explained Gleń.
How Spoofing Works
This fraud method - "spoofing" - is used to extort sensitive data or money. Scammers impersonate bank consultants, representatives of offices or police officers. Thanks to new technological solutions, the caller can manually enter the number at almost any time, which will be displayed on the phone screen of the recipient of the call. Police officers do not have the technical capabilities to block spoofing, because the criminal's phone is not connected to the mobile network, but to the computer network.
"The perpetrators use various social engineering tricks to manipulate the interlocutor and gain access to his smartphone or computer, and consequently to the bank account" - warns Sebastian Gleń.
The attack scenario is usually the same: the scammer first tries to scare the interlocutor into acting under the influence of emotions, most often informs him about the alleged hacking of the bank account and the need to take quick action to block the hackers' possibilities. The victim is convinced that he is talking to the bank hotline, office employee or police officer.
The feeling of danger and time pressure
"In most conversations, however, there are two elements: time pressure and a sense of threat. Typically, scammers persuade victims to transfer money to a given account or install an application that allows them to take control of the interlocutor's phone or computer, and consequently their account. to send money or provide bank account details should be treated as a fraud attempt.
Policemen call for caution with this type of contact and verify the identity of people calling us.
