A good practice that you surely already do to avoid fraud is to check on the Internet if the telephone number from which they are writing to you comes from an official organization. Now this is no longer enough to protect us from a scam.
Until now, cybercriminals used phones from other countries or that were clearly fake. Even cell phones were ready to detect the spam. However, scammers are able to copy real numbers from large institutions.
The technique for stealing phones or addresses the canvas of large companies is called identity theft and this has just affected a Spanish public body: Social security. The situation is so serious that they had to use the networks to warn the Spanish.
The phone scam that uses the real Social Security phone number
The phone rings or we receive a suspicious message from the following number: 915410291. Our first reaction is to be suspicious and check on the internet. Fortunately, we realize that this is the official social security number and we trust it.
Find out that this is a real institutional number This makes us let our guard down and predisposes us to provide the data they ask of us.. For example, address, account number, different access codes, etc.
The great misfortune is that if we do so, we will have fallen into one of the most dangerous scams that exist. Cybercriminals are already capable of using powerful software pretend to be large companies.
Although the official number appears on your phone screen, the reality is that it is not writing to you from a public agency.
Fraud is very dangerous because it can ask you for almost any confidential information under the pretext that you urgently need to carry out a work procedure.
Social Security used the networks to warn that this is a scam using the technique of identity theft and that, although their number appears, it is not about them: “We will never ask you for your personal information over the phone or text“.
How to protect yourself from Social Security fraud?
Protect yourself from identity theft This may seem impossible to us if we think that verifying the existence of the official telephone number is not enough. Despite this, there are several tips that can save us:
- Never give out personal information: Most official organizations will never ask you for confidential information by telephone or SMS. Call them yourself or, better yet, visit one of their locations.
- Pay attention to the tone: If they require urgency, you should be wary. Likewise, an official message will never contain spelling or other errors.
- Keep your phone updated: the more softwarethe phone will be more likely to identify that it is a suspicious call.
- Beware of unnecessary requests: trust your instincts and the information you have. If someone asks you something that wasn’t expected, it makes perfect sense that it’s wrong. Verify your identity.
