In recent weeks and months, more and more fraud attempts and financial scams have started to make waves on the Internet with high stakes for those who fall into their trap. Fortunately, the DNSC (National Cyber Security Directorate) often tries to issue warnings on the subject. The sad part is that very few listen to them.
The latest fraud campaign in the online space, on social networks, is built around Marcel Ciolacu. This time, the prime minister’s image is being used in a deepfake clip made with artificial intelligence to describe what looks like a fabulous investment opportunity and, of course, get-rich-quick. According to DNSC data, a manipulated video clip was generated to increase the degree of confidence in the information presented.
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What Romanians must pay attention to in order to avoid online fraud
“Clips in which certain people with a national reputation run these ‘investment programs’ are often published by online criminals on social media accounts newly created and used exclusively for this purpose, or some compromises, which belonged to other users in the past . Attackers usually use the image of politicians, businessmen and even journalists to present these trap offers to the public.
How does the trap laid by criminals work? Unlike other cases, where the sponsored post had the main purpose of redirecting the potential victim to a phishing site, in other cases like this, the attackers invite the audience to express their interest in entering the ‘program’ by sending a private message.
Once contacted in this way, the attackers will use social engineering techniques and phishing sites to convince users to provide sensitive data”, it is mentioned in a post published on Thursday on the institution’s LinkedIn page.
Read also: The warning of the moment from ING, the money on the instant card disappears. The attempted fraud that causes numerous victims, confirmed by the authorities
How to avoid cyber pitfalls
Unfortunately, in order not to fall into the trap of Internet fraud, it would be good to have a decent knowledge of IT security. Know how the internet works and, above all, be convinced that no one ever gives anything away for free on the internet. Even if you don’t know it, you will definitely give something in exchange, including your private data or the card data that facilitates access to your savings.
According to DNSC, effective solutions to avoid a potential disaster are:
- be vigilant when surfing online, especially when you come across an offer that is too good to be true,
- check information related to the page or account promoting such ‘offers’,
- analyze the video content for any resources that do not correspond to the usual image or video quality,
- check if what the person in a video is saying or doing is shocking or important,
- avoid accessing links from such sponsored posts that offer get-rich-quick or save-the-money opportunities,
- report such posts for fraud to the social network,
- do not provide data to sign up for such trap programs.
If you have fallen prey to online fraud attempts, file a complaint with the Romanian Police, notify the bank if you have entered your card details, contact DNSC at 1911 or [email protected].
