Police in Cyprus are warning the public not to fall victim to a WhatsApp scam and losing money in the process.
WhatsApp users should vigilant against a new type of telephone fraud through falsely impersonating the Cyprus Police. Reports this week document crooks using the popular app as inviting unsuspecting citizens to a video call, falsely pretending that they are communicating on behalf of the Police.
The communication is in English and the crooks ask for various personal and banking details.
It is the latest scam to blight telephone and internet users in Cyprus. Last month a con purporting to be from the Cyprus Postal Services did the rounds, prompting the Post Office to red-flag a scam operating on Facebook ‘regarding allegedly selling unclaimed parcels that are in our warehouses’.
‘Posts under the name “Cypriot Postman” with our logo are illegal,’ the announcement in December said. ‘The Cyprus Post has no involvement and urges the public to be extremely careful and ignore such posts’.
The Post Office said it was important that citizens pay attention to the following signs:
The posts do not refer to our official website www.cypruspost.post.
Cyprus Post does not keep any unclaimed parcels, since such parcels are returned to the sender.
Payments are not directed to the JCC SMART online payment platform.
The Cyprus Post had been forced to warn the public during the summer about increased reports of deceptive SMSs messages, most of which are phishing attempts with requests for small payments.
Texts try to dupe the public into divulging private information such as passport details, banking information, or credit card details. In another scam, police warned recently that fraudsters were posing as officials from Cyprus Capital Market Commission in a similar telephone fraud scheme.
