What seems like a normal phone call can end badly: Police warn of increasingly popular scammer trick

Counterfeit emails, fake websites, SMS and WhatsApp messages or fake news messages. International gangs are very creative in their efforts to victimize and obtain sensitive personal information. Increasingly, scammers also reach for the telephone and do not even hesitate to call you on your mobile phone or smartphone.

At first glance, such a phone call looks very normal, because you will see a mobile number on your screen. As soon as you pick up, someone warns you about ‘suspicious activity’ on one of your accounts. In this case it was done in English and that basically rings a bell, but the gangs abuse the (possible) scare effect on their potential victims.

“Common problem”

At that moment, for example, they ask you to press button 1 to put you through, so to speak, to yes, the federal police. Someone on the other end of the line then tries to steal data from you in a devious way. “You should never do that. Just hang up,” says Dirk Van de Sande of the Mechelen-Willebroek police. The force has already received several reports from concerned citizens.

“This indeed seems to be a common problem in recent days. We have already received a lot of messages from concerned citizens about it,” said Jana Verdegem, spokeswoman for the federal police. The practices are strongly reminiscent of phishing emails that have been circulating regularly for months, including in the name of the federal police.

“As a federal police, we would of course never contact citizens in that way. So never answer such questions and never share personal information or bank details,” says Verdegem. You can always report suspected forms of fraud via SafeOnWeb. “Anyone who nevertheless shared information can file a report with the local police.”

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