Stealing data, cheating buyers, stealing money: Cyber criminals are making the internet unsafe. Distrust and caution often help to expose the scammers. But it is even safer to know their tricks.
Consumer advocates and the police are currently warning of scams on the Internet that affect PayPal, the KfW development bank and Facebook. Anyone who has fallen into one of the traps should report it to the local police or via the online police station in the respective state. So that it doesn’t get that far if possible, the three dangers at a glance.
PayPal-Phishing
It is one of the most widespread scams on the Internet: on classifieds sites, fraudsters pretend to be interested in buying an item, fake payment problems and then claim to have sent the purchase price including shipping costs via an allegedly new PayPal service.
Next, they send what they claim to be a PayPal-created link containing the fictitious “buyer’s” name. The link is said to be able to request the money. The consumer protection portal “Watchlist Internet” advises that you should never click on it, but rather pull the ripcord and break off contact.
If you click on the link, you end up on a fake PayPal page where the access data for the payment service and also SMS confirmation codes are fished from PayPal. If you continue here and follow the instructions, you lose money.
Continue reading: Beware of PayPal Classifieds Ebay Scam
Phishing at the KfW development bank
Fraudsters misuse the name of the KfW development bank and advertise a fictitious “special support program ISFP-01” in fake e-mails, which is intended to protect against upcoming cost increases in view of inflation.
The State Criminal Police Office (LKA) of Lower Saxony warns that anyone who clicks on the “Apply now” button in the e-mail will be taken to a professionally designed page that looks deceptively similar to the KfW page.
Perfidious: Many links on the fake page lead directly to the real KfW website, including the imprint link. However, the addresses of the fake (“kfwfoerderprogramm-portal-start-id…com”) differ greatly from the address of the real KfW website (“www.kfw.de”).
Anyone who continues with the fake application process will eventually reach a form in which to enter the data that the criminals are after: name, address, telephone number, ID card number, bank name.
Also interesting: Caution! Fraud against Sparkasse, ING, DKB and Postbank customers
Facebook scams on the internet
Facebook is a popular marketplace for concert tickets, especially for events that are already sold out. The willingness of many fans to pay high prices for rare cards calls criminals into action.
“Watchlist Internet” warns that fraudsters are everywhere you look for tickets on Facebook: in the event’s discussion forum, in the comments below, on the marketplace or in special groups for concert tickets.
With fake profiles, the criminals comment on posts with requests or publish ticket offers themselves. According to the information, the fraudsters often send a copy of an ID card in order to inspire trust. However, these are stolen copies of third-party ID cards.
In return, the alleged salespeople also demand a copy of your ID. The rule here is: never send a copy of your own ID. This is abused by criminals for the next scams.
In some cases, according to the information, only half the ticket price is required in advance plus a copy of your ID as security. The following applies here: Never transfer money or pay with the Paypal function “send money to friends and family”. In both cases, the money is gone if the seller turns out to be a scammer.
how are you doing better The safest way is to hand it over in person, advise consumer advocates. If this is not possible, you should take a very close look at the seller’s Facebook profile and pay using the PayPal function “Send money for goods and services”, for example, because buyer protection applies here in the event of problems.
And you should also pay attention to the ticket itself: It is best not to buy e-tickets from third parties that you print out yourself. There is a risk that they have been printed out more than once.