Phishing Alert: State Police Recommends How to Protect Yourself Against Online Scams

Just in these days a new phishing alert has arrived from the State Police. Users are advised to be cautious. The risk is that they empty your account!

Recently, we often hear about the phishing phenomenon, moreover, it is one of the scams most used by cyber criminals to target users. According to the latest estimates, globally in the first quarter of this year, there was a 170% increase with over seven and a half million attacks, compared to almost three million recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

In principle, the technique used by web criminals is always the same. Essentially, hackers, intent on luring a victim, send a fraudulent e-mail or other communication, posing as a trusted sender. Should the scam succeed, the unfortunate user is persuaded to provide confidential information, usually on a scam website. In addition, sometimes malware is downloaded to the victim’s computer.

In short, the risks are very high and the worst thing is that, at the moment, there is no information security technology capable of preventing phishing attacks. For this reason, the State Police wrote to the Italians, recommending prudence and attention. Below are the tips dispensed by the military to defend themselves against dangerous phishing attacks.

Phishing: the alert of the State Police

In recent times, the number of phishing attacks has grown exponentially, creating more and more dangers for users. Usually, hackers try to steal credit card information or other personal data for profit, therefore, they represent a great danger not only for the privacy of the unfortunate users, but also for their account.

For this reason, the State Police has launched a new alert.

Here is what we read in the latest note from the military: “Cybercriminals are always on the hunt for sensitive data to be used in various types of scams or to empty our current accounts, and this is why they periodically launch the so-called phishing, a term that indicates the different types of online scams with which victims are persuaded to share sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers. A type of phishing widely used in recent times is the one that illegally exploits the logo of the Revenue Agency, just as it is happening these days. False communications arrive via email or sms which have a PDF file attached with which users are persuaded to provide their email address and password. Subsequently, to make the request for data credible, the victim of the scam is redirected to the agency’s official page. To verify the authenticity of notifications or alerts received via email or text message, the specialists of the Postal Police recommend never clicking on the links attached to the communications but connecting directly to the official apps and websites.