LKA Lower Saxony warns of prepaid card scam
The LKA Lower Saxony has observed an increase in fraud attempts where perpetrators impersonate acquaintances and demand prepaid cards.
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The State Criminal Police Office (LKA) Lower Saxony is warning about a current surge in a scam where criminals aim to swindle victims out of prepaid cards. The scam is insidious because the perpetrators use the names of the potential victims' acquaintances, making the emails appear more credible.
(Image:Â polizei-praevention.de)
Law enforcement officials warn on the portal Polizei Prävention that there has been an increase in inquiries about this scam recently, indicating that scammers are using it more frequently. The perpetrators use the names of the victims' acquaintances and even set up email addresses to match. However, according to the LKA, these are faked.
(Image:Â polizei-praevention.de)
Victims are instructed to buy prepaid cards, for example, from Apple, and transmit the scratched-off codes from the back of the cards to the scammers. Due to the personal address and the real names of acquaintances, victims can fall for this scam more easily.
Scam is known
The scam where victims are asked to buy and transmit prepaid cards is not new. However, the quality of the current phishing wave is different; it is more credible. Anyone who transmits the prepaid codes to the scammers will definitely lose their money.
According to the LKA Lower Saxony, the perpetrators do not use the codes themselves but sell them for a lower amount to unsuspecting individuals. This makes tracing them more difficult. The perpetrators obtain contact details from sources such as club websites, law enforcement officials explain. Emails are then sent, for example, from the supposed club chairman to club members. While other sources of data are also conceivable, such as emails, address books, content on social networks, or infostealers on computers, the currently frequently reported cases are attributed to data from club websites.
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Anyone who has received such emails should inform the supposed senders via their correct known contact. Potentially affected friends or club members should also be informed. Furthermore, they can file a report with the local police or the Online-Wache. A scan for malware on the computer is also advisable. Operators of club websites, for example, should handle contact data sparingly, the officers further recommend.
Most recently, the LKA Niedersachsen warned at the end of August about a scam where alleged lawyer letters sent by traditional mail promised credits after crypto fraud. These letters contained links to phishing pages where victims were to be defrauded of their money.
(dmk)
