The scammers behind a campaign of phishing by SMS announcing fines to be paid were apprehended by the police.
If new technologies bring new possibilities for finding information, or developing economically, they have also been a blessing for all evil-intentioned minds. Some use sophisticated techniques to steal millions, while others use more basic techniques to scam, like these thieves who sent SMS messages to make their victims believe in the need to quickly pay false fines!
SMS sent for false fines
The fake fine scam is becoming more and more common. The police thus apprehended hackers who were sending SMS messages to their victims explaining to them that they had to regularize fines on the government site dedicated to this purpose: the National Agency for the Automated Processing of Offenses (Antai).
To do this, they created a fake portal, similar to the real one, which the victim accessed directly via a link provided in the SMS. He was then asked to provide his bank details and identity information in order to pay the fine. So much data misused by thugs.
Two 19-year-olds at work
In total, the crooks were able to obtain more than 1,700 bank card numbers and details of the identity of their victims, which allowed them to either sell them to other cybercriminals or make purchases directly online. “ The police established that the two suspects had used 78 of these card numbers to make purchases on commercial sites for a loss of 19,000 euros. » was explained to the Parisian.
The identity of the latter, active between October 2022 and July 2023, was finally able to be found by the police, who apprehended two unemployed young men aged 19 from Paris and Roubaix. They will have to account for their misdeeds before the Paris court of justice on April 3.
As a reminder, although it is possible to pay your fines on the ANTAI portal, the latter never sends an SMS to report the existence of a violation. Communications are always carried out through official letters.
Source : The Parisian
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