23-year-old victim

“Fake tax office” scammed out of tens of thousands of euros

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(Bild: Ngampol - stock.adobe.com)

Fraudsters tricked a young man from Waldviertel into trusting them until he allowed them to access his computer data - a costly mistake!

It all began with a text message from the "tax office" to the cell phone of the 23-year-old from the Zwettl district. It claimed that his online tax ID had expired. He clicked on the link and was redirected to a fake site - which was modeled on the site of the Ministry of Finance.

Then the game began
He entered his name, address, cell phone number and IBAN. A short time later, a supposed IT security officer from the savings bank called and persuaded the victim to install the remote maintenance software "AnyDesk" on his PC. In order to gain his trust, the man was then manipulated by four different callers for more than two hours. The fraudsters then used "AnyDesk" to gain access to the victim's computer. However, the 23-year-old still logged into the online banking software and authorized the S-Identity app.

Please note: Authorities or banks do not send text messages to update their data. Never click on links in them.

Josef Lehr, Bezirkspolizeikommando Zwettl

Tens of thousands of euros in savings gone
In the evening came the big scare - the savings were gone. The man called the savings bank's emergency number and had his account blocked. Two transfers had been made to a German account. The loss amounted to tens of thousands of euros!