As part of the European Safer Internet Day, which takes place this Tuesday, the Public Security Police indicate that last year it recorded 11,200 crimes of computer and communications fraud, 20% more than in 2021, when 9,349 had been recorded.
PSP data shows that this crime of scams practiced through digital means has been increasing since 2019, when there were 6,758 complaints, rising to 8,706 in 2020 (up 29%), “a significant increase” that coincides with the first confinement due to the covid-19 pandemic and during which the population made purchases through digital platforms.
That security force states that, in the last four years, it has registered 36,013 complaints of fraud made through digital means, stressing that it is “a growing criminal phenomenon”, in counter-cycle with the general crime trend in the country, which has been decreasing.
The PSP says that in the year 2022 the scam “Hello father, hello mother” stood out, a written message mostly sent via ‘WhatsApp’, whose number of occurrences has been increasing.
The police explain that in this type of scam, the message is sent from an identifiable contact number presenting itself as the son and is usually used as an approach that the son’s cell phone has broken down, or is lost, and that the phone contact used will be his only contact until repair or purchase of new equipment.
The PSP adds that, from this initial approach, the dialogue continues through messages to give credibility to the story until they reach the intended purpose, which is to request the transfer or sending through a platform of a monetary amount with the justification that it is intended for the payment of the repair or purchase of a new cell phone or loan request to settle an urgent expense.
According to that security force, the reported occurrences of this type of fraud are registered all over the country, with special incidence in urban areas with higher population density, where written messages can remain for hours and the call is not answered when the victim tries to contact them by voice.
The PSP warns victims to always make a voice call, being “the first and fastest form of prevention and detection that you may be the target of a scam attempt,” to call the original number of their children and report the situation immediately to the police.
The police also advise not to make any money transfer and to do a scam screening with simple questions.
The PSP will mark Safer Internet Day with a session at the Lisbon Metropolitan Command, in Moscavide, aimed at more than 30 elderly people.
