The Bank of Portugal (BdP) warns of fraud attempts through SMS messages, ads on social platforms and/or phone calls, as pyramid schemes may be involved, the institution said today.
In these approaches, people are lured into joining chat groups in order to obtain additional income, as part of a job offer, an investment with a high return or the granting of a loan with advantageous conditions.
“Hello, I’m from the human resources department of the social network/company ABC. We urgently need 30 part-time online employees. Daily delivery of 50-500 euros / We offer a part-time job for 300 to 800 euros per day. Get in touch at wa.me/351xxxxxxxxx [group link],” is one example of the attempted scam.
After clicking on the link, the person is associated with a “work” group (on WhatsApp or Telegram), and may be asked to pay a registration fee with the promise that it will be returned to them, plus a commission, after “completing the first task”.
The promised remuneration is associated with watching videos on social platforms (Youtube, TikTok, Spotify, etc.) and posting ‘likes’ or comments on them.
After “accomplishing the tasks” requested, which will correspond to a supposed monetary value, an unmissable investment proposal may follow (for example, in “cryptocurrencies”).
It is also common to receive messages on social networks promising immediate credit in an uncomplicated way, in which case people are invited to pay an initial commission and, after making this payment, the person who made the contact disappears and stops replying to messages.
The Bank of Portugal calls attention to this type of scam “in which the offenders intend to use your payment account as a ‘mule account’, i.e. as a pass-through account for fraudulently obtained amounts: they credit your account, manipulating it so that you later transfer those amounts to another account”.
“Never click on links in messages received from strangers or open dubious messages. Don’t join chat groups of unknown origin. Do not make payments or install any program or application at the request of a third party in order to make an easy profit. It is very likely that any of the situations described are fraudulent,” the BdP said in a statement.
In case of doubt or suspicion, contact your bank immediately through the usual channels.
