The police are urging the public to be cautious, as scams involving fraudulent text messages demanding payment of alleged out-of-court fines continue.
According to a new complaint filed today with the Nicosia CID by a 45-year-old woman, yesterday, October 27, she received a text message regarding an allegedly unpaid out-of-court fine. The 45-year-old clicked on a link provided in the message and was directed to a website where she entered her vehicle registration information. A forged document then appeared on the page, bearing the Republic’s logo and details of an alleged traffic violation with a fine of 6.59 euros.
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The 45-year-old selected the option to pay the alleged fine, entering her personal information and credit card details, as well as the one-time password (OTP), without, however, completing the transaction. Later, upon checking her online bank account, the 45-year-old discovered that her account had been debited for a payment of 1,219 euros, which was made through a website unknown to her.
The case is being investigated by the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Nicosia CID.
In light of this new case of fraud and money extortion, the Police are once again informing the public that it never contacts citizens in this manner or through any other communication platform to ask them to pay any fines or for any other reason.
The public is urged to exercise extreme caution when receiving messages containing electronic links. As a precaution, the public is advised to avoid clicking on such links and never to provide or enter personal or banking information on unknown websites.
Finally, to verify any messages they receive, citizens are urged to contact the relevant organizations through their official communication channels.
