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A few days ago, the Spanish bank CaixaBank said there was a loophole in its mobile app called CaixaBank Now.
Many criminals take advantage of loopholes and impersonate bank staff to defraud customers of money.
CaixaBank has warned customers not to reply to unidentified text messages.
The bank said they would not ask customers for codes or their private information, and reminded customers not to click on links in text messages.
Impersonating a bank employee is one of the common "routines" for telecommunications fraud, and this is the case in many countries.
In Sibu, Malaysia, a Chinese woman in her 40s received a call from a person who claimed to be a bank employee. The other party said that her friend had not repaid the loan overdue. She was the guarantor, so she was responsible for repaying a sum of 1,000 yuan. Ringgit debt.
After she hung up the phone, she went to ask her friend. After learning that her friend did not borrow money from the bank and did not use her name as a guarantee, the Chinese woman immediately reported the case to the police to avoid being deceived.
Data map: The tools of telecommunications fraud suspects.
Tax season is also a time when fraud is high.
The North Vancouver RCMP has seen an uptick in tax filing and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)-related theft and fraud between February and April of each year, said RCMP spokesman DeViss.
"Phone scams usually start with an automated, computer-like voice that tells you to press 1, and then says the CRA has an important notice," DeViss said. "The first thing the scammer does is ask for your name and then cite a fabricated file number to lure you in. You're fooled. They'll tell you you owe taxes and you could be arrested and the only way to avoid arrest is to pay a fine."
North Vancouver RCMP reminds the public that the CRA will not make phone calls to threaten people to pay debts, and the CRA will not notify tax-related arrest warrants through phone calls, text messages and emails.
In addition, the CRA will not require people to pay their taxes in cryptocurrency or deport people from the country.
Online shopping platforms have also become "tools" for some people to cheat money.
They lied about selling products on social platforms, blocked buyers after receiving the money, and took the shopping money as their own.
A Malaysian Chinese man saw a female netizen selling a watch on a social platform. Because the price was cheap, he contacted the other party and remitted the money for the purchase of the watch to the account designated by the other party.
However, he did not receive the watch after waiting for a long time. When he tried to contact the other party, he found that the other party not only blocked him, but also deleted the account that sold the watch.
Subsequently, the Chinese man saw from the webpage that other netizens were defrauded of money in the same way.
After realizing that he had fallen into a scam, he went to the police station to report for help.
Data map: The police in Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province seized a large number of fraudsters' tools for committing crimes.
Photo by Zhong Xin
Not only buyers may encounter scams, but sellers also need to be careful not to click on unknown links.
Recently, in Singapore, there have been a number of fraud incidents against sellers. The scammers used the guise of buying goods on the online shopping platform Carousell to induce the sellers to click on the link provided by the "receipt email" to steal bank account information.
Data shows that since January 2022, 72 people have been taken in in Singapore, and the amount involved is as high as S$109,000.
Singapore police say scammers often contact sellers at Carousell posing as buyers, claiming they are interested in buying the seller's goods.
After the negotiation, the scammer said that he would transfer the money to the seller's PayNow account through the built-in payment method CarouPay of the online shopping platform.
The seller will then receive a fake email from Carousell that the payment has been completed, but will need to click on the link to be credited.
When sellers click on the link, they are redirected to another fake URL, which is then tricked into filling in their banking details and providing a one-time password (OTP).
The seller only learned that he had been deceived when he later became aware of an unauthorized bank transfer in his bank account.
Data map: Chengdu police cracked a telecommunications network fraud case involving more than 3 million yuan.
There are countless similar scams, how can we prevent them?
Xiaoqiao has compiled some anti-scam skills to help you avoid scams.
1. If you receive calls, text messages and emails related to personal accounts such as bank accounts, online shopping platform accounts, etc., do not inform the other party of your account password and other information, hang up the phone in time, and do not reply to text messages or emails.
After contacting the bank, online shopping platform and other staff and understanding the situation, we will respond.
2. In the process of communicating with unfamiliar people on social platforms, please be vigilant when money is involved, do not click on unconfirmed links, do not enter personal identity and account information on unknown websites, and do not transfer or remit money to unfamiliar accounts. Protect your own property.
3. If personal property suffers loss due to fraud, please report to the police in time, or contact the local Chinese embassy to explain in detail the whole process of being defrauded, and act according to the arrangement of the police or embassy staff.
(Manuscript source: China Overseas Chinese Network WeChat public account; ID: qiaowangzhongguo; Source: China Overseas Chinese Network, Canadian "Sing Tao Daily", American "World Journal", Malaysia "Shi Hua Daily", etc.; Author: Dai Chen)