A new wave of phone scams. Don’t be fooled by the “US cop”

The Niebezpiecznik website raises the alarm about a new campaign against Poles. According to reports, criminals use automated calls in which a computer-generated voice pretends to be a US police officer.

The “USA policeman” method

“This morning I received a call from the number +48 797 023 XXX, in which a generated male voice said that he was a policeman from the United States and that illegal transactions and strange movements were observed on my bank cards, and to get more information I had to press 1,” the reader reported the mentioned portal.

Although this method seems new, the pattern is well known. Last year, Poles were the target of similar attacks, in which fraudsters impersonated the Border Guard. They threatened arrest for illegal shipments and offered the opportunity to avoid problems by providing payment card details.

In April, CyberRescue warned of another fraud scenario in which criminals reported that the ID card was involved in a crime. Victims were informed about their data being linked to money laundering. The message ended with the command “Press 1”, but after executing this instruction there was no response (this may have been a cheater’s error).

What might happen?

We can expect that in the near future, fraudsters will also contact us via SMS, WhatsApp or Telegram. They may ask for data from your ID card, such as your PESEL number or document number.

How to protect yourself against this? Your best defense is not to respond to suspicious calls or share your personal information over the phone. If you hear that the caller is pretending to be an officer and wants to obtain our data, you should immediately end the call. It is also worth reporting such an incident to the appropriate services.

Telephone scams are still evolving, but their goal remains the same – to extort data and money. So let’s be vigilant and take care of our safety.