The development of new technologies, without a doubt, has become a fundamental ally of people in the development of their daily lives, facilitating tasks that were previously very cumbersome and shortening the time to access goods and services that even They are on the other side of the world. This is without counting the advances in important branches such as finance and health.
However, just as today there are more and more investment and growth alternatives, the risks also increase, since criminals are improving their tactics and tools to deceive and steal from people; using social engineering and the digital footprints left by citizens whenever they travel through the Internet.
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According to experts from the Bank of Spain, the lack of training and information; are two factors that are currently facilitating the task of cybercriminals, making vulnerable those who access the various alternatives on the web and “in many cases, they do not need to develop complex strategies to achieve their objectives and are limited simply to take advantage of our ignorance and, sometimes, our limited attention.”
Whether through false invoices, non-existent promotions, judicial alerts that are not real or job offers, among others, scammers are always trying to access users’ personal information, mainly that related to credit cards, bank accounts or passwords. security.
In 2017, 11,618 complaints were received for digital crimes.
“The increase in electronic commerce, increasingly digitalized banking and the growing use of cards as a means of payment are used by cybercriminals to obtain your banking information. The Portal publishes a new series to explain what techniques they use and how to protect yourself. We begin with this post, where we will stop at, perhaps, the most common of them, phishing,” indicated from the Bank of Spain.
That said, through its consumer training and alert programs, analysts from this institution warned that there is a growing form of phishing, in which they impersonate Netflix, Max, Disney+, Prime Video and other streaming platforms. and attract users’ attention through false alerts.
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“Phishing is the scam in which the identity of a third party is impersonated, in this case, through mass sending of fraudulent emails using the identity of legitimate organizations or companies, such as your bank. It is the first phase of many with the ultimate goal of obtaining large sums of money,” they explained.
To attract people’s attention, the Bank of Spain pointed out that criminals use baits such as alerts that the account has been blocked or will be blocked shortly, or the implementation of new regulations. They also send emails about security improvements, requesting identity confirmation or taking advantage of fake promotions and discounts.
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Additionally, these fraudulent emails may include links that direct to fake web pages designed to steal credentials and often, scammers use senders that appear legitimate and attachments that contain malware, so it is key to remember that banks and financial institutions never request sensitive information by email.
“The most important thing is that you never provide the information requested or any other information, do not click on the links or download the attached files, mark it as “unwanted” and, if you can, report the identity theft to your service provider. email, block the sender to avoid receiving emails of this type in the future and it is advisable to send it to your bank so that it is aware and informs other customers,” they concluded.
Finally, they recommended being in permanent contact with the authorities and reporting any irregular incident to these organizations and the same financial institutions, in order to combat criminals together.
