The Harghita County Police Inspectorate (IPJ) made, on Monday, a new appeal to the population regarding the alarming increase in online crimes with fictitious investments, since the beginning of the year several dozen such cases have been registered, in one of them the damage was over 180,000 euros.
Cases of online fraud are increasing PHOTO: Archive
“Despite constant efforts to inform and prevent, the police continue to receive notifications from people who become victims of such fraudulent schemes. From the beginning of this year until now, the Criminal Investigations Service of IPJ Harghita has recorded over 30 of cases of fraud in the field of fictitious investments, with damages that exceeded the sum of 180,000 euros in a single case”stated the Press Office of IPJ Harghita, according to Agerpres.
According to the quoted source, on April 18, the criminal investigation police received a notification from a man about the fact that he is missing the sum of approximately 180,000 euros from his bank accounts.
“From the first investigations carried out by the police, it emerged that, after viewing an ad on a social network, which promoted an investment platform that promised a high profitability yield, he decided to invest on that platform, offering access to the personal phone of some 'financial analysts' through a remote control application (Any Desk). Later, transactions in the amount of over 180,000 euros were made from his account.”it is stated in the IPJ Harghita information.
The police draw attention to the fact that the mode of operation of the criminals “is sophisticated and manipulative”using the reputation of well-known companies or public figures to lure victims into their trap.
“Criminals contact potential victims through the online medium, promising them quick and extremely high-yield earnings. They use advertisements on social media platforms to promote the illusion of easy earnings. Victims are then urged to download remote control applications , such as 'Any Desk', through which criminals take control of their banking and personal data”, specifies the mentioned source.
In order to avoid such traps, the Crime Prevention and Analysis Department within IPJ Harghita recommends once again to the population to be cautious and adopt preventive measures.
People are urged to avoid accessing investment advertisements or solicitations from unknown persons, to exercise vigilance and be skeptical of offers that promise large and quick earnings, not to install remote control applications that allow access to electronic devices, but also to always verify the authenticity of the data presented and not to communicate personal or banking information to unknown persons.
Also, those who are tempted to invest are advised to always check the legitimacy of the broker or platform on the website of the Financial Supervisory Authority or through search engines such as Google.
