Cyprus Police have warned the public to remain vigilant as a scam involving fake text messages demanding payment of supposed outstanding fines continues, after a 52-year-old man lost €2,326.
According to a complaint filed with Nicosia CID yesterday, the man received a message claiming that he had an unpaid fine relating to traffic offences.
The 52-year-old followed a link included in the message, which took him to a website falsely presented as an official Cyprus Police website. He entered his bank card details intending to pay the supposed fine.
He subsequently received a notification from his bank informing him that €2,326 had been charged to his account.
Nicosia CID’s Financial Crime Investigation Unit is investigating the case.
Following the latest fraud case, police reiterated that they never contact members of the public in this way, or through any other communication platform, to ask them to pay fines or for any other reason.
Police urged people to exercise particular caution when receiving messages containing links. They advised the public not to follow such links and never to provide or enter personal or banking information on unfamiliar websites.
Anyone wishing to verify a message they receive should contact the organisation it claims to come from through its officially published communication channels, police said.
