The LKA Lower Saxony warns of a new fraudulent scam in which fake e-mails are sent that supposedly come from the federal government. The scammers are targeting credit card details.
Anyone who has recently received an email that is intended to verify a credit or debit card and has official logos from the federal government should beware. In general, even official bodies never ask for security numbers or the PIN of your bank cards. Such emails are always fake emails intended to defraud. This also applies if they supposedly come from the federal government, which is supposed to elicit the valuable financial data from you. So also in this case.
Fake email from the federal government
The scammers state in the email that they are acting on behalf of the German government and the EU Commission. You would need to verify the credit or debit cards once per the “European Union PSD2 Directive” by August 31st. In addition, a blocking of the cards is threatened in order to put potential victims under pressure. The supposed sanction is a 180-day blocking of the cards. The perfidious thing is that the EU’s PSD2 directive really exists. However, this is aimed at companies that offer payment services and serves to protect consumers. With such interspersed facts, the fake e-mail from the federal government tries to show a certain legitimacy.
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Email forwarding to fake website
Anyone who follows the link “Confirm identity” will come to a page with a mask for data entry. In addition, the fake website tries to continue the appearance of the alleged e-mail from the federal government with an official appearance. To do this, the scammers also use a suitable domain address such as “bundesregierung.de-verification.eu”. This is of course fake. Such fake addresses can withstand an inattentive and cursory glance.
On the fake website, the scammers try to ask for names, dates of birth and credit card details. Anyone who enters everything will be forwarded to the official website of the federal government so that no suspicion is aroused.
The police therefore warns that the federal government is not the sender of the e-mail. All logos are fake. If you have fallen for the fraudulent scam, those affected should immediately Blocking emergency call 116 116 Select to delete the affected cards. In addition, the LKA recommends displaying the online guard to submit.