The Civil Guard of the Madrid Command has detected an increase in complaints related to fraudulent purchases of biofuels in the Community of Madrid.
Scammers, taking advantage of the upcoming cold weather, have created a criminal modality consisting of creating web pages that They pretend to be real stores where they offer biofuels at a price lower than the real market price.
In most cases, in order to attract victims, prices are significantly lower than the legitimate offerwithout being excessively low to give credibility to the fake page. To deceive potential victims, fraudsters reproduce or simulate genuine web pages and, sometimes, create a web address. practically identical to well-known legitimate websites selling these types of products.
Recommendations
Faced with the increase in these cases, the Civil Guard recommends not getting carried away by the first pages that appear in the search engine. Cybercriminals have the possibility of preferentially positioning their web pages there. Also carry out the necessary checks to check the legitimacy of the pageby checking reviews on pages like Google or TrustPilot. For this comparison, it is necessary to verify that the positive ratings do not come from profiles with few reviews.
In many cases, cybercriminals post positive reviews on these pages to increase the level of trust in them. Another good tip is consult the payment methods on the siteIt is not recommended to accept pages that do not offer payment by credit card. Be wary of those who exclusively request payment by bizum or transfer.
And check the web address to verify that it has a security certificate. The address must start with “https:www”. The letter “s” indicates that we are viewing a secure page. And finally, the Civil Guard recommends using common sense, these are products whose prices are high depending on demand. A significant downward movement should alert potential buyers.
