We are at a time of year when millions of Spaniards travel by car, either within Spain or abroad. Many of them are currently enjoying their summer holidays, something that technological criminals want to take advantage of and try to scam us.
And as he now lets us know, INCIBE or National Cybersecurity Institutea new and important wave of emails and SMS has been detected that supplant the DGTMany of you already know firsthand that the General Directorate of Traffic is responsible for informing us of traffic violations and fines that we will have to pay sooner or later.
What is the fake DGT scam?
Since we generally use the car more at this time of year, malicious actors want to take advantage of this. That is precisely why INCIBE itself has just published a series of tips and recommendations for avoid scams through these false communications. First of all, it is important to know that attackers use these channels, such as text messages or email, to inform us of alleged violations we have committed and the fine we must pay.
In turn, they attach a link to a fake and malicious website which looks a lot like the official one from the General Directorate of Traffic. But in reality the only thing that is intended here is for us to provide a series of personal data, including banking data, supposedly to pay for said infraction. However, what we really do is provide such sensitive data to attackers so that they can take advantage of it, in one way or another.
At the same time, and to encourage us to bite the trap, they urge us to hurry up. payment of the fine to save a percentage. But as the National Cybersecurity Institute informs us, we must be vigilant to avoid scams.
INCIBE’s recommendations to avoid fraud
The first thing we should do is take a look at the URLs that usually reach us through these channels and where we are asked for a series of private data. Although its design, as is now the case with the DGT, is very similar to the official one, normally the direction will seem strange to us.
Likewise, we must keep in mind that the General Directorate of Traffic will never communicate the violations in the form of finesneither through SMS nor through email. These official communications are carried out through a registered letter which we have to sign before receiving it in person. Therefore, if we receive a supposed fine through these digital channels, we should immediately delete the messages. We can even go to the authorities to report this attempted scam so that other citizens can be informed.
Saying that this type of disappointment has been with us for a long time, but now, in full swing summer holidays For many, they have intensified significantly.