New scam: they pretend to be in the mail, ask for photos of your face and open accounts in virtual wallets

Digital scams are often based on simple tricks: a criminal pretends to be a competent authority and asks for some sensitive data from the victim, who accuses him of having committed a crime.

A new report warns about a digital scam that has Correo Argentino as its protagonist and in which it is requested charge a commission to unblock the arrival of a product from abroad in the company’s door-to-door service.

To warn about this type of phishing is the Tax Unit Specialized in Cybercrime (Ufeci). The trigger turned on an email with the Correo Argentino logorequesting information such as document number, phone number and even sending a selfie photo.

The requested payments were made via deposits or wire transfers to virtual wallets. Many people who, in fact, were expecting a shipment through that company have transferred the money under false pretenses.

So far, the OFECI has raised a total of 160 victims who have provided their personal data. of that universe, 14 victims reported having paid and the calculated damage was $ 140,561.68.

It is the officially established amount, although it is deduced that it would be much higher based on the fact that not all the people who could have fallen into the deception have made it known to the specialized department.

This modus operandi was revealed in October last year after allegations of fraud. Many reported that they did not request any products for the service. Now it seems the modality has been perfected be even more difficult to detect.

In the message with a false sender it is explained that, without payment, it will not be possible to manage the parcel collection process and that, otherwise, the user will have to go to a customs agent to clear your delivery.

While the original scheme only provided for the sending of photos of the identity document (front and back) and a selfie photo with the document in hand, on this occasion it was found that two selfies were also requested: one with a natural look and the other making a specific gesture.

How is the new scam on behalf of Correo Argentino

The four photographs they are now requesting allow the hoax perpetrators to go through the identity validation processes that fintech companies currently require to create an account in a virtual wallet.

In this way, they generate accounts in the name of another person, with identity theft a withdraw money in the form of credit and hold the other accountable.

Faced with the new emergence of this criminal scheme, Ucefi shared a series of tips to avoid these scams and to protect the safety of people on the web.

• Reject this type of communication or, if in doubt, contact the company if you are waiting for a product to arrive from abroad.
• Avoid sending sensitive material (such as photos of documents or selfies, or a combination of both) by post and, if in doubt, contact the company or report cases of abusive claims to the National Directorate for Personal Data Protection.
• Please take into account the tax payment procedure for purchases of this nature which is available on the official websites of the agencies.

SL