Fake covid passports by Telegram and fraudulent offers in Wallapop

  • Fraudulent documents are traded in exchange for the payment of 150 euros in bitcoins

Computer scams have exploded in a pandemic, and so has the picaresque. Some criminals have resorted to Telegram for offer fake covid certificates. There are those who use Wallapop to profit from this certificate, which entails a risk for the user as they provide their personal data.

The Internet User Security Office (OSI) warns of a scam circulating through Telegram. This body points out that users who have tried to obtain said fraudulent certificate have become victims of fraud after having made the payment to obtain it.

As explained by the OSI, they have been detected in the social network Telegram groups that offer both certificates of the covid vaccine false as certificates of PCR negatives also false.

How does the scam work? After contacting the profile that is recommended in the group, it requests a series of personal data from the user (name, date of birth, social security number and email address), in addition to a pay of € 150 through bitcoins. To guarantee the confidence of the victim, the cybercriminal sends a photograph, as an example, of what the supposed certificate would look like. The photograph shows an apparently legal certificate that the cybercriminal has been able to obtain illegally. The scammers even provide instructions for making the payment in bitcoins. And in case the victim makes the payment, there are no guarantees that they will receive the false certificate.

Steps to follow

What to do if you have been a victim of the scam? If the user has contacted a profile that offers this service but has not provided personal information, nor performed any payment, the OSI advises to delete the conversation and block the contact through Telegram or the platform through which it has been contacted.

If the user has contacted the profile and has already provided their personal data, the OSI recommends performing ‘egosurfing‘(that is, a search for your name and other personal data in the search engine) on a regular basis. In the event of finding that information about the user is being misused, you can resort to the Spanish Agency for Data Protection.

In case of having made the payment requested by the cybercriminal, the OSI urges to contact your banking entity to inform them of what happened. “We recommend that you remain vigilant and periodically monitor your banking movements,” they emphasize.

Likewise, victims are advised to collect all possible evidence (screenshots, emails, messages, etc.) and contact the State Security Forces and Bodies (FCSE) and INCIBE, through the Internet User Safety Office (OSI).

Law of supply and demand

Cybercriminals are ‘targeting’ the foreseeable growing demand for COVID certificates to access more establishments. As of this Friday, December 3, in Catalonia the document must be presented to access restaurants, gyms and residences. Until now it was only necessary to access the nightlife venues. Salut has created an ‘app’ to verify QR codes.

On Wallapop, the second-hand buy and sell application, you can find offers to customize the QR of the covid certificate and have it always at hand. The most repeated proposals are keychains with the code and personalized cards. The prices of these products are between two and seven euros.

These people ask the user to send them their QR, despite the fact that it is a personal and non-transferable information. In Betevé’s statements, the UOC computer science professor, Jordi Serra, recalls that the QR code of the covid passport contains personal information and that “we must be aware of the use that third parties may make of this data“.

A family business

Along the same lines, Juanfran Peñaranda, manager of Goatxa, a small Valencian company dedicated to customizing all kinds of products, has also created PVC keychains that on one side bears personal data and, on the other, the QR code that certifies having received the covid vaccine.

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Since Peñaranda has added this product to his store, he has not stopped receiving orders. “My mobile is smoking,” explains the creator of these key rings, which have a price of nine euros and come to all Spain.

The time it takes to make each product is 24 hours – you have to assemble one by one from the PDF with the vaccination certificate sent by clients-, as long as they do not exceed one hundred orders a day, since they are a small family business in which three people work.

Reference-www.elperiodico.com

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