He wanted to help, but he was in a hurry. The oversight cost him dearly

The man was contacted via messenger by his brother-in-law who informed him that he was having a problem with transactions at his bank and that he urgently needed to make a payment. It was about online payment for the order. The alleged brother-in-law asked for BLIK payment codes. The 46-year-old wanted to help, so without hesitation, he completed all the necessary mobile transactions.

Unfortunately, as it later turned out, he did not help anyone in this way, but he lost a total of over PLN 1,000. He forgot about one important thing – caller verification. Contacting your brother-in-law directly and ascertaining whether he actually needs financial help would have saved him from losing money.

In this case, the criminals used their regular pattern of action. They posed as a friend on social media and used time pressure and a compromised account to extort money. They used a poorly secured messenger account – without a strong password and two-factor authentication – to gain access to the victim’s profile. After gaining control of the account, the fraudster contacts a friend of the profile owner, asking for urgent financial help. Most often, it uses the BLIK code. It is this code that, after confirming the transaction, results in immediate loss of money.

Let’s not trust people who pretend to be relatives or friends in this way. Always verify requests for financial assistance. Let’s contact family members to check this and, above all, let’s not act in a hurry. Until we contact our loved ones, let’s not transfer anything.