The service ID photo is misused in connection with the requirement to pay purchase amounts via instant transfer via “PayPal Friends”. The fraudsters offer goods at extremely low prices that they don't actually own. All they care about is getting potential victims' money.
By using a photo of a police ID card, fraudsters try to feign seriousness and persuade the victim to use the instant transfer payment method using “PayPal Friends”. There is no buyer protection with this variant; transferred money is gone.
A current case
A woman from the Löcknitz area recently fell victim to the fraudsters and lost around 200 euros. She was convinced by the photo of her work ID to use “PayPal Friends” for payment. Shortly afterwards she realized that it appeared to be a scam. She filed a complaint.
The police officer's ID card was immediately declared invalid in databases. The official himself uploaded the photo of his ID card online at the beginning of the year to confirm his identity on a private matter. He also fell victim to fraudsters without realizing it. Disciplinary measures against him for misusing official documents for private purposes are being examined.
However, the photo of the ID is definitely still being used by fraudsters on the Internet to convince prospective buyers to pay money without buyer protection - in the belief that the seller is a police officer.
The police warn
The police strongly warn against using a payment option without buyer protection. In any case, users of online sales platforms should only pay with buyer protection. In addition, it is more than unlikely that a police officer would want to sell goods on sales platforms without buyer protection and show his or her ID card to do so.
It is still unclear how many fraud victims there have been apart from the woman mentioned. The investigators assume that the fraudsters are using this method at least nationwide and that those affected have so far made appropriate reports to their home offices.
The Anklam police are investigating this matter and ask that other possible victims of this scam contact the police operations control center in Neubrandenburg with relevant information on 0395/55822224.
Source: PP/Neubrandenburg Police Headquarters
Also interesting:
In a settlement involving a data protection violation by Facebook, Meta is offering $37.5 million - after deductions, less than 50 cents for each of the 70 million affected users.
– Facebook data protection lawsuit: Meta offers $37.5 million settlement
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