– Police officers from the Lubin police headquarters received yet another report from a resident of Lubin who fell victim to an internet crime, reports junior aspirant Aleksandra Pieprzycka of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław.
How do the criminals operate?
The 26-year-old received a call from a man who introduced himself as an employee of one of the banks. The scammer told his victim that he was calling from the security department. He added that the woman’s bank account had been blocked.
The criminal then said that he would help the woman from Lubin regain access to her account, but that she had to install a program on her phone—a remote-desktop application. He then persuaded the woman to take out two loans (PLN 20,000 each). Once he had access to the victim’s account through the application, he withdrew the entire amount.
Police officers:
Once again, we appeal to you to exercise caution.
How can you avoid being scammed?
- Do not believe everyone who calls and introduces themselves as an employee of an institution—a bank, the police, the prosecutor’s office, the sanitary inspection service, and so on.
- Follow the principle of limited trust toward anyone who calls with information about cash allegedly at risk in a bank, a break-in to your account, and so on. (Hang up and call your bank branch. Only caution and verification of every message can protect you from losing your savings.)
- You should be alerted when the person on the other end asks you to provide your bank card number, information about your funds in the bank, savings kept at home, or to withdraw money or take out loans and hand them over to fake police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, or a representative of a notary.