On 8 August, a 56-year-old resident of the county contacted Świdnica police after being defrauded. Aspirant Aleksandra Pieprzycka from the press team of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław:
According to her account, on one of the social media websites she found an advertisement offering the opportunity to invest in shares of an oil company and thus quickly multiply her savings.
The woman then filled in a form, providing her telephone number, first name and surname. Shortly afterwards, a man called her and explained how the platform worked and how money could be made on shares. The man then sent her a link to—ATTENTION!—a “special application for operating the platform” and instructed her to install the program.
The resident of Świdnica County agreed. The result? She installed software on her device that enabled remote control of the operating system via the Internet. (This gave the fraudster access to what was happening on her phone.)
The so-called consultant then instructed his interlocutor to pay almost PLN 1,000 into the indicated account, supposedly to register on the investment platform. The spokesperson: — Very soon, the 56-year-old received confirmation that the money had arrived, which convinced her that the platform was genuine.
Three days later, the fraudster called the 56-year-old again, stating that he would be her investment adviser. He instructed his victim to log in to her bank account and open an account where money supposedly earned on the stock exchange would be accumulated. What is more, he so successfully sweet-talked the woman that she gave him the numbers of her debit and credit cards.
When the woman logged in to her account again, she discovered that it had been emptied. In total, she lost PLN 18,000.
Police:
Once again, we appeal for caution when carrying out financial transactions. Let us remember that fraudsters are constantly modifying their methods, whose aim is to extort money. Never, under any circumstances, install programs or applications suggested by strangers on our devices. We should also not open links sent to us. Let us use common sense and apply the principle of limited trust towards strangers.