An incredible online fraud against thousands of unsuspecting customers has been set up by an international ring, extorting sums of money from the naive!
A branded complaint made to iefimerida by a reader reveals that on the Golden Opportunity website (of course without its knowledge) there was a fraudulent advertisement for the rental of a luxury property in Kolonaki.
How they set up the scam
The alleged owner of the house claimed via e-mail that he resides in London and asked his potential victim, as a sign of "good faith" that he was indeed interested in the property, to deposit the amount of 1,000 euros into a Western Union account in the British capital, in any name he wished - even that of a relative or friend.
He then claimed that his lawyer would check that the amount had actually been deposited and inform him to withdraw it, even promising to reimburse the prospective tenant for the commission that the global money transfer company would take. And all this just to give him… an appointment to show the house! (click on the image to enlarge)
The complainant did not… bite and asked for information. The brazen fraudster sent him a scanned photo of his – supposed – identity card, which showed a German citizen.
However, the almost victim asked a friend to also express interest in the ad, which was done via email.
In the second person, the international ring made a mistake: They sent a scanned fake ID of... another person.
Furthermore, the complainant asked the fraudster to send him the address of the house. He sent him that it was located at 28 Loukianou Street, while the advertisement in Chrysi Efkairia showed a house between Ploutarchos and Patriarch Joakim. Thus, the fraud was revealed without – fortunately – falling into the trap of losing a thousand euros.
They are looking for the international spiral in Spain-Nigeria
iefimerida contacted the Cybercrime Unit, who confirmed that this was an international ring. If someone fell into the trap of depositing the amount, the scammers would extort the amount they would deposit to Western Union as soon as the "victim" sent them the transaction code.
The Cybercrime Prosecution has received dozens of complaints about the case which – unfortunately – is not the only case of fraud. According to information from iefimerida, this particular gang with international tentacles has been in the sights of the ELAS “hounds” for 16 years (!) but they constantly manage to escape. The headquarters of the fraudsters is believed to be in Spain or Nigeria and they constantly use fake IPs.
The hopeless part of the matter is that with the explosion of the internet, the phenomena of electronic fraud or scamming have increased alarmingly,
What to watch out for – The Cybercrime Prosecution advises
iefimerida asked the Cybercrime Investigation Unit and its Brigadier General Manolis Sfakianakis to provide useful advice to our readers about the countless online scams that have become a real scourge.
"Incidents of credit card fraud in online purchases are increasing rapidly. The lack of face-to-face contact on the Internet tends to make fraudsters bolder. Online purchases of products that were never delivered (mobile phones, etc.), exorbitant credit card charges for services that were never requested or were initially presented as being offered for free, misleading information about products purchased online, are just some of the complaints from citizens that our country's law enforcement authorities receive daily.Typically, we mention cases of people who, interested in buying a car, tractor, motorcycle, etc., search the internet for an ad that will meet their needs. Then, and after they have developed relevant communication with the owner-perpetrator (email, telephone), they pay a deposit, usually through a payment company (e.g. Western Union). This is where the problems begin, as the perpetrator now makes up various excuses to collect additional money, to delay and, ultimately, never deliver the product. In particular, when it comes to selling cars, criminals send their victims by e-mail even fake documents for the car with which they describe its various features. Criminals also often use misleading websites of transport companies to achieve their goals, which guarantee the safe transport of the product. However, once the payment is made, these websites cease to exist.
What should one be careful about when shopping online?
- When comparing products from different websites, you may find that some of the same products are cheaper than others. It would be a good idea to check if these websites are ghost sites (e.g., a Google search for the name of the website with the very cheap products). Be especially careful when the offer seems too good to be true and the other party constantly exerts pressure to complete the purchase.
- Never pay in advance to a seller you do not know, even if he reveals his personal information or bank account number.
- Be particularly careful when making transactions through money transfer and international payment companies (Western Union, MoneyGram, etc.)
- It is recommended to use prepaid cards or cash on delivery upon receipt of the product. In particular, with the use of prepaid cards in online purchases, only the amount that is to be used immediately is available, while at the same time this way gives the possibility of adding money only when necessary, in order to process online transactions securely.
- In cases of online transactions and to avoid possible fraud, when purchasing goods or services, or any type of electronic booking for travel and excursions, he should check whether the website he is using is valid and choose for his transactions and purchases, only from known and secure websites. He should not proceed with the purchase or sale of goods if he has not certified the identity and reliability of the seller-buyer.
- Do not trust the information and promises of strange and dubious websites.
- Delete "suspicious" e-mails that request personal information, bank account details, credit card details, etc. if the details of the person requesting the information have not been previously verified.
- If he wants to proceed with a payment through an online payment website, he must type in the address of the website he wants to navigate to in his browser. Clicking on a link included in an unknown email provided for this purpose may lead to a website other than the one he wants (e.g. payment via Paypal).
- Be careful when purchasing branded products to ensure that they are truly authentic.
- He should be particularly careful in transactions with persons who provide contact information outside of Greece.
Finally, special attention:
- Do not make transactions using public computers (from net cafes, coffee shops, libraries, etc.). They may have keyloggers or spywares, without the staff of that place knowing. Thus, one's sensitive personal information can easily be intercepted and malicious users can make transactions instead.
- When making transactions from his computer, he should be sure that he has received all the necessary security software recently updated (firewall, antivirus, antispyware, etc.).
- Be sure that your passwords, card numbers (debit and credit), and other sensitive personal information are adequately protected so that no one can intercept or memorize them.
- Make sure to change your passwords at regular intervals, and that they consist of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers and symbols.
- Frequent checking of credit card transactions through your bank or via web-banking in order to immediately detect any violation.".
