Fraudsters impersonate police officers via WhatsApp in Cyprus
Unknown perpetrators are contacting citizens via WhatsApp, posing as representatives of the Cypriot authorities and using a photograph of the Police Chief to extract financial information.
Fraudsters impersonate police officers via WhatsApp in Cyprus
Unknown perpetrators are contacting citizens via WhatsApp, posing as representatives of the Cypriot authorities. To appear credible, they use a photograph of the Police Chief as their profile image.
The conversations take place in English and the perpetrators use various phone numbers. They ask victims for bank codes, account details and other sensitive information.
The Cypriot authorities make it clear that this is not official communication. The services never request financial details, access codes or personal data through messaging applications.
Recommendations to the public are:
• Ignore such calls and instructions. • Do not open links that are sent. • Do not share access codes, bank numbers, one-time codes or personal data.
Anyone who has already shared sensitive data is urged to notify their bank immediately for protection.
According to Politis, the numbers being used can change frequently. The public should be cautious of any similar contact, regardless of the number displayed on the screen.
Source: Politis