Using the supplantation of the General Directorate of Correos y Telegrafos, this week a fraud mechanism was reactivated with the sending of a message in exchange for providing sensitive personal information or to make some payment for the delivery of a package that is in shelter.
After a period without detecting these messages to users, last Holy Monday again this fraudulent practice began to be reported, it was explained.
Last December the same modality of deception had already been identified; In other words, a message is simulated by the General Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs to the User, So the competent authorities have warned about the existence of a synchronized campaign in order to obtain information.
When consulting the authorities of the National Civil Police (PNC), they declared that “there was indeed an increase in that modality this week and One of the research lines is to obtain user information to open bank accounts ”.
They added that they have arrested people involved in similar cases and investigations have determined that they are groups called “imitators.”
“There are messages that are sent from the prisons of the country and others by groups of criminals of imitators and scammers,” said the PNC.
The way of operating
The message makes the victim believe about the existence of a package without providing their name and in the content indicates that they did not find their data, nor the location, So the entrustment is retained in the area of the postal distribution center.
In addition, they generate emotional pressure to the user when describing that the office was scheduled for the next 24 hours for distribution to a specific place or indicated, So you need to confirm data. A web address is attached that links a domain in which you must provide the requested information.
It was known that Raúl Solares Vice Minister of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (Micivi) and Javier Lobos, Postcard and Telegraphs, received these messages, So they clarified that it is a fraud.
Warning
Lobos said that the message is a “bait” type so that the public can fall into this deception and that Provide your personal information using the name of the institution assigned to the micivi.
“As Correos de Guatemala we guarantee that we are not sending that message, which is false and there are elements in that message that does not go in the new institutional communication in their domain,” the official reiterated.
He added that in the text message of the fraud that people receive refer to the existence of a package, retention and custody in the enclosure.
In any case, it resembles a communication to the user when there is a retained package and that it has to settle a tariff percentage to the tax administrator “and we believe that the analogy goes there,” Lobos told to be consulted by the free press.
He reiterated that there are official communication channels to the user, in which there is only one WhatsApp and the page to serve users.
Avoid being a victim
In social networks and different platforms, false raffles and competitions are promoted to steal user information, Complaints that the institutions responsible for monitoring.
One of the most common modalities detected is due to deception through digital platforms to users of the financial system, especially those who are victims of participating in raffles and competitions that have come out in the list of winners, but change to provide personal information.
In general and according to official reports, organizations that make these fraud seek to harm users using the theft of identities, false raffles, and The non -existent promotions sometimes usurping logos of public and private institutions.
They also offer high -end cell phones or attractive gifts in order to obtain information and personal data from users. In exchange for the award ceremony, they immediately require a bank account number or validation passwords.
Another of the known scams that at the time warned of the Customs Administration of the Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT), was about the notice of the existence of packages usurping images of several logistics companies notifying the payment of taxes for delivery and avoiding the collection of fines and interests.
For this, in the note they transferred the number of a particular account to make the monetary deposit, it was explained.
With information from Rubén Lacán