Fraud Protection

Scammers contact unsuspecting citizens either by phone from unknown numbers or through emails/SMS, pretending to be representatives of government agencies. They claim that the reason for the communication is the approval of allowances such as Power Pass, Fuel Pass, tax refunds, etc. They assert that they are accountants or employees/representatives of various government entities like the Tax Office, gov.gr, Power companies, EFKA, OAED, etc. They request various details related to bank accounts. You should be extremely suspicious and never disclose your eBanking passwords, card details, or any one-time passwords (OTP).

Scammers make phone calls pretending to be interested in purchasing a product advertised by someone. They ask the seller to provide them with credit card details or eBanking codes, including the One-Time Password (OTP) that the seller receives on their mobile at that moment, claiming that they will deposit the money.

Furthermore, scammers may try to convince the seller that they have paid for the product, often showing a fake money transfer certificate or claiming to have deposited more money, supposedly by mistake, and requesting a refund of the difference. They usually allege that they accidentally entered an extra zero while typing the amount (for example, €5,000 instead of €500) and send a fake deposit receipt to prove their claim, asking the seller to return the difference.

In other cases, scammers post fake advertisements online for the supposed sale of products. They deceive the interested buyer, who sends the money but never receives the purchased item.

Scammers ask someone to act as an intermediary in money transfers, offering a percentage of the money as compensation. They typically request only the IBAN of the account for the money deposit. Subsequently, they ask the victim either to give them the money by making a withdrawal from an ATM or a branch or to transfer it to another person’s account.

This practice is known as money muling and is criminally prosecuted.

Scammers call unsuspecting citizens and pose as technicians from a major IT company. Claiming that their computer and/or mobile device is ‘infected’ with malicious software, they request to install remote access software for the supposed repair or restoration of the problem.

Once these applications are installed, the perpetrators gain complete control over the electronic devices of unsuspecting citizens, whom they then deceive into providing their personal banking access details (username, password, etc.) and the one-time passwords (One-Time-Password/OTP) they receive. Subsequently, the criminals proceed to transfer money from the victims’ bank accounts (e-banking) to bank accounts they control or those of their accomplices.

Groups of scammers from Greece and abroad target users to extract or steal their login credentials for banking systems. These groups communicate directly with users either through email, written messages on mobile phones, or by calling them directly. Their goal is to impersonate representatives of a bank, an authority, a legitimate company, or someone from the user’s broader social circle in order to deceive them.

Usually, malicious actors have certain information about the user which they use to ‘authenticate’ that what they are requesting is legitimate. This information may include the Tax Identification Number, ID or Passport Number, and various other personal details.

The ultimate goal of these malicious groups is to gain the user’s trust to reveal their Username, Password, Credit/Debit card number, and PIN, as well as the automated messages containing confirmation codes (OTP) sent by the bank. Having this information, they can proceed with malicious transactions for their personal gain, financially burdening the user.

For more information, refer to the relevant section.

Deception through Search Engine: Fraudulent groups have observed that several users of banking applications tend to connect to them through search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.). Instead of typing the address of the banking application directly into their browser or using the “Favorites” (Bookmark) function, users search for it on a search engine. Then, users choose the first result returned by the search engine to log in to the application by entering all the necessary access fields such as username, password, and possibly a one-time passcode (OTP). Malicious actors take advantage of this user behavior by displaying malicious links in the top search results, leading to deceptive websites that mimic those of banks. This way, they deceive users into thinking they are in the secure environment of the bank and steal their login credentials.

Deception through Email or SMS: Fraudulent groups may send messages via email or SMS to users containing a hyperlink to their deceptive malicious website. Malicious actors encourage users to follow these hyperlinks, which lead to fake websites. In this way, they deceive users into thinking they are in the secure environment of the bank, leading to the theft of their login credentials.