Victims of digital traps proliferating
Cybercrime seems to be on the rise in Greece according to data from the Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate of the Police.
Within the first four months of 2022, 3,000 complaints have already been submitted, while last year the figure reached 7,500 over the 12-month period.
A recent case on May 9 concerned a resident of Drama in northern Greece who tried to connect to an electronic bank application using his mobile phone and was transferred to a fake website. He had tried to find the bank’s email address in a search engine. He entered his personal passwords and in no time 14,376 euros had been removed from his account.
According to data collected by the Bank of Greece, in the first nine months of 2021, electronic fraud had increased by 200% and the amount of money embezzled reached 40 million euros. In the corresponding period of 2020, 6.4 million euros had been embezzled through electronic fraud. Of the cases on record, 55% were phishing incidents.
Indicatively, last February, a fake email with a bogus sender address was circulated, purportedly sent by National Bank of Greece, announcing, “Dear customer, this is an automated notification for the suspension of your account,” urging the recipient to click on a link.
A law enforcement official has told Kathimerini that the police cybercrime unit is now dealing with various types of online fraud.
A case in point was the targeting on April 19 of a couple in an area of Xanthi in northeastern Greece. A woman telephoned her prospective victim whose wife had posted an advertisement for the sale of children’s items on social media. She asked for his bank account’s IBAN number and sent him a message on his mobile phone which contained a link. She instructed him to click on the hyperlink and fill in his details. She stole his bank codes and removed 5,000 euros.
