In the age of technology there are countless benefits that can be exploited with web platforms, social media and so on but the downside of the coin is represented by online fraud which evolve with increasingly precise techniques and above all exploiting the naivety of those who are less familiar but also of the more expert because they are increasingly “credible”. One of the latest scams in chronological order was reported by the Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Parma and exploits the “like“, i.e. the “I like” of unsuspecting users to steal passwords, banking details and sums of money.
How the scam was born
The victim is first enticed up WhatsApp with a fraudulent message explaining how it is possible to obtain easy earnings, the classic extra income, simply by liking some pages or products like on Instagramone of the favorite social platforms for influencers and companies to sponsor their products. Scammers aim to steal as much personal information as possible, ranging from your phone number to your bank account number. After the first likes, links appear to download other platforms and “subscribe to certain channels with the promise of high economic returns, for a modest investment”, we read in a statement from the Parma Carabinieri.
The deception of the victim
Among the various stories reported to the police is that of a woman living in Rome who, unaware of everything, wanted to try to open a profile on a social platform which was not disclosed for privacy reasons. At that point he began to follow the instructions by putting a whole series of “likes” on many profiles and actually began to earn small sums of money. Once the scammers managed to gain the lady’s trust, requests began to make some small transfers with the promise that the money would be returned with interest. All apparently fine until the woman made the larger transfer 500 euros: from that moment on his interlocutors disappeared without a trace and goodbye to the money.
The only thing to do was to contact the police where he filed a complaint: the investigations led to important clues towards a 40-year-old foreign woman with the money found in a Postepay account. At that point”the woman was reported to the Parma Prosecutor’s Office because she was believed to be the alleged perpetrator of the scam”.
What is social engineering
The experts at Geopop explain that this technique is based onsocial engineering: the victims begin to trust with the small sums of money paid and returned until the epilogue we have seen. In practice, scammers use various techniques to deceptively obtain the desired information.
How to defend yourself
The only way to avoid finding yourself with stolen sensitive data and falling into the traps of wire transfers is to refuse any type of “strange” request, which promises easy profits, unless you know the interlocutor personally.
Never click on links that are forwarded via social media, emails or anything else if they come from unknown senders or numbers: handing over your sensitive data takes a moment with consequences that are anything but pleasant for the unsuspecting victims.