Credit card cybercrime boom. Scammers are taking the phone numbers of their potential victims with the most popular online selling platform. And after a summer break, “stinging” people are now contacting GDBOP’s “Cyber Crimes” section on a daily basis.
The first reports of a similar type of cybercrime were received in December 2020, said Commissioner Vladimir Dimitrov, head of the cybercrime department at the GDBOP.
It is a phishing scam that aims to get our bank card details. Criminals contact their potential victims through one of the most popular online sales platforms.
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“Cybercriminals see on the platform what the user is selling and what his phone number is, then contact him either on Viber or Whatsapp, send him a link to the product offered and offer him a fast and safe way to pay. And the user can get his money in the next few minutes by following a link, “explained Commissioner Dimitrov.
And the link itself leads to a credible phishing site with the logo of a well-known courier company. There, the user has to enter very sensitive data: bank card number, name, surname, year of validity and the code on the back. “This data is sufficient to withdraw money from the bank card, not to transfer money to this bank card,” GDBOP also pointed out.
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The sums are also not to be neglected – 2000 – 3000 BGN. And one of the biggest losses due to this type of fraud was around BGN 12,000. This is also the case with Tihomir Tonev. They didn’t ask for a bank account, but for a debit or credit card number. Cybercriminals even sent him a payment.
“It sounds convincing enough. Many people can be misled,” says Tonev. The number he got the suspicious message from was Ukrainian.
“We have not reached a specific group or person who carries them out. Our foreign partners have identified a Belarusian citizen who is doing similar things,” said Commissioner Dimitrov.
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Although the case of Tihomir is in the summer, in the summer months, in fact, the GDBOP signals a pause in this type of cybercrime. However, there is now a new boom. Therefore, users should be much more careful when sharing such data, advises the Association of Banks in Bulgaria.
“It is enough to send the IBAN to receive such a payment and not only is it not necessary, but it is dangerous to send the data of our bank card,” explained Cveta Ilieva of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria.
In order not to lose the trust of users and to protect their personal data, the online sales platform has also strengthened measures against such scammers.
And while some doors are closing for cybercriminals, they are becoming more innovative and finding new ways to scam users online.
A novelty in the cybercrime commission is hackers’ interest in cryptocurrencies, the GDBOP also said.
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