The approach: The criminals send messenger messages via unknown numbers and pose as close relatives . They claim to have a new mobile number because the SIM card or mobile phone is broken. They sometimes directly request that you delete the old number.

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online banking is blocked because the old number is no longer available , the fraudsters feign an emergency situation and ask that those contacted transfer an urgent invoice, often for several thousand euros, to a bank account for them. Many of the people contacted do not question these stories and lose a lot of money due to their supposedly helpful bank transfer.

To protect yourself and verify the identity of potential fraudsters, do the following:

If one of your contacts sends an unusual request...

  1. Ask for a voice message.
  2. Or call the person to verify their identity.

This is the only way you can be sure that no stranger is using your account improperly.

Also note:

  1. Don't respond to these messages! Contact the person being impersonated here by alternative means and don't let the wrong chat partner dissuade you.
  2. Use another messenger, email traffic or the phone numbers you know to start parallel communication.
  3. Under no circumstances should you transfer money from your bank account to bank accounts you do not know. In the worst case scenario, the money will not be able to be recovered after a short period of time.
  4. If you have fallen for this scam, please inform your bank first. If necessary, the transfer can still be stopped. However, just a few hours could be too long.
  5. Report this to your local police. Take screenshots of the chat history, contact and transfer (with a clearly identifiable recipient account) and bring this data with you when reporting.

source

Police advice
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )