Be careful with Messenger messages from friends. The famous fraud is back. Police appeal

, and at the same time the most effective ways of extorting money used by cybercriminals. And its popularity is mainly related to the great interest that instant messengers such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp still enjoy.

In this scenario, fraudsters take control of a Facebook user’s account and then send a request to their family and friends to borrow money. They ask you to provide the BLIK code, which allows you to withdraw funds from an ATM without using a payment card. They explain their surprising request by sudden problems – e.g. losing their wallet. Those who fall for a message from a “false friend” may lose from several hundred to even several thousand zlotys.

BLIK fraud is still going strong. Police appeal

Unfortunately, although both the police and the media have been warning against BLIK fraud for a long time, more people still fall victim to this scam. Recently, one of the people deceived in this way reported to the Municipal Police Headquarters in Olsztyn.

“The injured party, thinking he was corresponding with his friend, responded to the request to provide BLIK codes in order to complete the transaction,” explains the Olsztyn police.

At one point, when the man logged into his bank account, he noticed that funds were being transferred to a suspicious account. Then he decided to call his friend and realized that he was dealing with fraudsters. More than PLN 1,600 disappeared from his account.

– they add. Due to further incidents of this type, the police appeal to people to follow several important rules when using social media:

• you should use two-factor authentication for your social accounts, then it is much more difficult to take over your account – logging in requires SMS confirmation;
• it is always worth confirming the identity of “friends” who write to us via instant messengers – it is best to call such a person;
• remember to check the transaction details before confirming it in the mobile banking application (the criminal will not use the code until we confirm the transaction on our phone);
• you need to protect your phone and especially the PIN for the bank’s mobile application.