You should be alert if you receive a phone message from a number you are clearly not familiar with, because the sender is most likely making an offer to get your money, and may also use your data for criminal purposes.
Photo: Alexander Zubkov
Fraudulent SMS messages arrive in waves: in November, around Christmas and in recent weeks, the number of messages sent Netflix They freak out in the name of DHL or a similar company and basically ask for financial data.
The purpose of the messages is to make the target click on the link in the SMS
– said Gábor Szappanos, a cybersecurity expert at the security software and hardware company Sophos, to Világgazdaság. “This link may look like the name of the company’s original website, eg info-del-dhl.com instead of dhl.com, but it actually points to the scammer’s website.”
What is happening exactly?
The expert explained: Social engineering is used in messages, so the content of the messages aims to attract the attention of the target. You may receive text like:
- The recipient has received the package, but additional data must be provided to receive it,
- Certain costs must be paid for admission,
- There is a problem with the Netflix account, it has been suspended, so please log in as soon as possible and solve the problem.
The real reason, on the other hand, is that fraudsters can thus obtain access data, collect personal information or bank card information, which they can use for their own purposes, even for criminal activities.
For example, they proceed to pay with a bank card in connection with arrears or gift vouchers, so that they can directly steal the money.
Nobody protects us
The question on everyone’s mind is what the competent authorities can do against this phishing scam. Unfortunately, not much, according to a cyber security expert.
The websites and phone numbers used are usually foreign. These scammers – who are also usually foreigners – change often and the authorities are not always able to respond quickly enough.
– answered Gabor Szabanos.
So we rely on ourselves, so it is better to act carefully and responsibly towards yourself. This means that we should receive general suspicion of any message that is not clearly from someone we know.
Photo: Tada Pictures
A warning sign could be the lack of Hungarian in the letter, typos, or unusual address endings.
Expert advice, you should also pay attention to the following, which can be used to filter fraudulent intent:
- Never trust text messages from an unknown number, especially from abroad.
- If the SMS contains a link to a website, we especially carefully check whether this is really the site of the particular company, but most of all, never open the link received in the SMS.
- We check the correctness of the information in the letter on the official website of the company.
- Use antivirus protection, its web filter module recognizes and blocks known phishing sites.
What should we do if we have already clicked on it?
If, God forbid, we click on the link in the letter and a website appears similar to the named company, but in fact fraudulent, there is still a saving idea, although not too complicated: change the password immediately, otherwise, use two-factor authentication where possible.
