Police warn public about phony text messages

Police are warning the public against fraudulent text messages with links to Banking and Credit Institutions.

According to a police statement, the text messages sent tells the subscriber that their bank account has either been locked or blocked and the only way to fix this is to log in to your bank account.

A link is provided for the subscriber where, if clicked, will bring them to a new page asking for personal login credentials of a particular banking institution, but, in essence, is a fake website used to gather a personal information.

As a result, fraudsters gain access to citizen’s bank accounts via the internet (e-banking or i-banking) and are able to extract large sums of money from accounts or have access to personal data.
 
The Police are urging the public to be especially careful and not to reveal their personal data and passwords of their bank accounts to any person, since no Banking/Credit institution will ever ask for passwords from its customers.
 
It also calls on citizens to make sure that any messages they receive by telephone or e-mail are genuine and indeed sent by the Bank or Credit Institution where they maintain an account.
 
Furthermore, citizens should make sure that any website to which they are connected is the authentic website of the Bank/Credit Institution with which they cooperate.