Since the beginning of the year, you may have received an SMS demanding that you pay a fine without further delay, even though you did not commit the offense with which you are accused. It is obviously a scam, against which the UFC-Que Choisir warns today. We explain the risks incurred if you click on the link.
Hackers are definitely not idle in this year 2023. Techniques to scam victims are multiplying and it is increasingly difficult to detect the pot of roses before falling into the trap. But if the criminals are doubling their imagination lately, there is a trick as old as the world (or almost) that always proves its worth: the bogus fine.
In a blog post, UFC-Que Choisir thus warns against a new phishing campaign posing as the National Agency for the Automated Processing of Offenses (Antai). The technique, you know it. In the SMS sent to the victims, the hackers make believe that it is imperative to pay a fine as soon as possible. Burned red light, unauthorized parking, the reasons diverge, but all are accompanied by the same link.
Make sure you are liable for a fine before paying it
Of course, hackers use the sense of urgency to lower their victim’s guard, claiming that they are exposing themselves to an increase of 105 € in case of non-regulation. The link, meanwhile, redirects to a copy of the Antai site, relatively well imitated and which requires you to enter a lot of personal information: name, address, telephone numbereverything goes until you are asked to provide your bank details to pay the fine.
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In addition to extracting a certain amount of money, this scam therefore also applies to recovering a certain amount of sensitive information, which will then be sold on the black market to carry out other scams of this type. “Every day, we identify a dozen new fake sites on this theme”, deplores Jean-Jacques Latour, director of cybersecurity expertise for the Cybermalveillance platform. As a reminder, the Antai never sends SMS to demand payment of a fine.
Source: UFC-What to choose