The Social Security Institute reported to the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) after discovering instances of IBANs being changed in Social Security Direct without beneficiary intervention. This case has already led to the detention of more than forty people, and during the period when entitled benefits were not received, Social Security provided exceptional financial support to affected families.
“As widely communicated, the Social Security Institute, upon identifying instances of IBANs altered in Social Security Direct without beneficiary involvement, notified the Polícia Judiciária and has been working closely with the Public Prosecutor’s Office since,” a source from the Social Security Institute (ISS) explained to Notícias ao Minuto.
These events, the same source elaborated, “primarily occurred in October 2024, with 90 cases detected,” and “by the end of January 2025, 169 criminal complaints had been lodged.”
The PJ detained 47 individuals in the ‘Constellations’ operation, which doesn’t rule out the possibility of the fraud against hundreds of pensioners stemming from a cyberattack and acknowledges that more victims may emerge.
The investigation revolves around a fraud that affected hundreds of Social Security Direct users, whose benefits were diverted to bank accounts of the suspects.
The scheme’s ‘modus operandi’ involved recruiting ‘money mules,’ recipients of the misappropriated funds from pensioners, who received social benefits via bank transfer to the NIB specified on the Social Security Direct platform.
Social Security Provided Exceptional Support to 167 Families
Because many did not receive their entitled support, Social Security allocated “exceptional support to 167 families,” with “the amount of each support determined within the social action framework,” added the same ISS source to Notícias ao Minuto.
“Despite these situations resulting from third-party malicious interference, using Social Security Direct access credentials from those beneficiaries, the Social Security Institute (ISS)—aware of the vulnerability of some beneficiaries due to non-receipt of social security benefits—authorized exceptional financial support, upon presentation of a submitted criminal complaint to a law enforcement agency and IBAN ownership proof,” that source detailed.
The source also mentioned that the ISS “has been particularly attentive to fraudulent phenomena related to Social Security and has been active in addressing them.”
“In this context, beyond adopting suitable measures, it has engaged in issuing alerts to citizens. For example, warnings regarding fraudulent SMSs and their reporting to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, as well as communication with SIBS,” the source commented.
The source concluded by stating that “the ISS and the Institute of Informatics are continuing the structural development of solutions to ensure greater security for initiating or altering IBAN procedures in line with bank account ownership.”
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Notícias ao Minuto | 08:41 – 08/05/2025
