The Civil Guard has warned of a new scam that they have detected in Lanzarote and that has affected different businesses and companies on the island. As they explain, this begins with a call to the landline numbers (possibly obtained through the Internet) of businesses with a high influx of customers, such as gas stations and betting shops.
"Once in contact with an employee or manager, the scammers identify themselves in various ways, sometimes as managers of companies related to the commercial sector of the contacted company or managers of logistics distribution companies, warning of the existence of a messaging shipment in which a customs problem has been detected, at which point they require an amount of money to unblock it," explain from the Civil Guard.
In addition, "in this call they make them believe that they are currently in direct contact with the owners or general managers of their company and therefore can provide a more immediate solution, even providing identifying data to make the deception more credible."
Subsequently, adds the Benemérita, "they get the victim's personal telephone number, in order not to occupy the company's telephone line, making the following contacts through a telephone application emanating from a national or foreign landline number, convincing these people to make payments through money transfer applications and provide their personal data such as name, photos of the DNI, account number, etc... All this taking advantage of the desire to solve an alleged problem of the company for which they work."
Safety tips and how to avoid it
The Civil Guard advises not to provide personal or business data to interlocutors who are not fully identified, as well as to check with the managers of their companies the existence of such supplies or shipments.
In addition, it is recommended not to accept incoming calls through instant messaging applications, "due to the ease with which identities of natural and/or legal persons can be impersonated." "It should be noted that all personal data provided in these conversations may be susceptible to being used for the commission of other criminal offenses," he warns.
