Tyrolean recognized fake

Online fraudsters lure you into a brazen billing trap

Symbol photo

(Bild: Maciej Grabski)

Beware of fraud! Brazen internet criminals use a fake email from mobile phone provider "Magenta" to pretend that they are having difficulties collecting an outstanding amount. Fortunately, a Tyrolean recognized the scam in time.

Supposed free offers, fake prize notifications, "love scams" or - as reported - fictitious promises of repayment: The range of internet scams is huge!

Deceptively genuine-looking letter from South Africa
Now criminals appear to be increasingly using fake emails in the name of mobile phone providers to fish for data from gullible customers or to try to take money out of their pockets.

"I actually have a cell phone contract with Magenta and received my monthly bill a few days ago," a Tyrolean told the "Krone" newspaper. This was also significantly higher than in previous months due to the service charge.

The deceptively genuine-looking message.

(Bild: Krone)

"I then received a deceptively genuine-looking message in which they tried to make me believe that there had been difficulties moving in," the 33-year-old wondered. He was about to click on the attached link that supposedly opened the invoice.

"Fortunately, I didn't do it and took a closer look at the sender," said the Magenta customer. As could be seen at second glance, the letter was sent from a server in South Africa - so it was a phishing email despite the perfect German with no spelling mistakes.

Mobile phone provider warns of scams on blog
The Tyrolean does not know whether the time of the attempted fraud was coincidentally exactly between the sending of the bill and the debiting of the amount. "It's quite possible that I fell victim to a data leak," says the 33-year-old, glad to have been careful. The mobile phone provider repeatedly warns of the latest scams on blog.magenta.at.