The Polícia Judiciária (PJ) reported on Wednesday that “the national code is being used as criminal bait,” as a Portuguese number is making “false calls” in its name.
“During today’s [Wednesday] duty, the PJ received several reports from citizens about the situation. When we think that a national number contacting us may reduce the risk of criminal activity or associate it at most with unwanted commercial approaches, we’re not seeing everything. The focus is new: the national code is being used as criminal bait”, stated the authority on social media.
The PJ warned, in this context, that a national number is making “false calls” in its name, urging people to “stay alert.”
According to the authority, the scheme involves “false identification in the name of the PJ,” along with a “specific mention that the personal data from the ID card of the person targeted in the call was usurped and used for money laundering.”
Suspects then intimidate the victim “through a hypothetical ‘arrest warrant’ in the name of the contact’s recipient”, with the final step being a “recording giving commands to press a booby-trapped key.”
“Urgent sharing recommendations: if it happens to you, hang up and immediately block the number”, advised the PJ.
A year ago, the PJ was also used in an “intense and massive” fraud campaign utilizing AI
Recall that about a year ago, the PJ reported an “intense and massive” fraud campaign where the authority itself was used in fraudulent calls to deceive citizens and lead them to transfer money to bank accounts.
At the time, José Ribeiro, the criminal investigation coordinator at the National Unit for Combating Cybercrime and Technological Crime (UNC3T), highlighted foreign criminal networks’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for spreading this campaign, which resulted “in an unusual number of complaints” to the institution.
“The concern with these techniques is the massive way campaigns are spread, having direct contact with victims almost individually. They are developing individualized patterns of attack and fraud, conduct profile analysis using artificial intelligence. At this moment, they are developing targeted techniques, which is frightening because it will bring us additional difficulties,” he emphasized.
In this fraud, citizens were informed that their bank account was at risk or had been improperly accessed and had to choose from several options, including speaking with a supposed PJ inspector who instructed them to transfer funds from their accounts to supposedly secure accounts.
These criminal networks, associated with foreign groups, also used national mobile numbers to legitimize these contacts, resulting in, according to José Ribeiro, two types of victims: ‘phishing’ victims who end up transferring money, and the real owners of the telephone numbers, who are unaware of the misuse.
“The fact that they belong to national numbers does not mean they are made by the holders of those numbers. We want to alert the population that just because a national number appears does not mean it is traceable,” said the official.
José Ribeiro further explained that the holder of the number from which the fraudulent contact was made had no record on the mobile, as it only served as a ‘mask’ for international numbers of criminal networks, which often obtain these contacts through databases sold on the Internet.
“We should not demonize artificial intelligence, but the fact is that criminal groups are taking advantage of artificial intelligence techniques,” he said.
Be aware that if you decide to use paid services to identify unknown phone numbers, you may be sharing personal information such as your name, email address, or even payment data.
Miguel Patinha Dias | 08:48 – 02/09/2025
