Rome, 13 August 2024 – The message arriva their WhatsApp, il prefix is the now infamous +91, the text in an unlikely Italianas a translator, who mixes the ‘tu’ and the ‘lei’ but cast a bait, even an emotional one.
“Hi! Sorry to bother you! Can I have some of your time for a bit?” The account photo shows a young man, presumably Indian. But what is he? And what happens if you answer? It may happen that within a few months ‘someone’ – well organised – overcomes the embarrassment and without too many bows and bows you end up asking us for astonishing sums, even 150 thousand euros, with romance scams.
WhatsApp Scams: Here’s the Latest Message That Arrives on Our Cell Phones. What Happens If We Answer
This is the scenario he explains on the phone with Qn.net Barbara Strapped, Deputy Director of the Postal Police. From romance scams to fake investments to sexual extortion. A world of horrors opens up.
Doctor, what happens if we reply to the message? “We are talking about a lure That can have many purposes. And it can lead to a romantic scamto a fake investment proposalof asexual extortion. They are throwing out a bait”.
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“Romance scams are a real pain for me,” the police chief confides. Because they lead to so much suffering, Often the victims are women of a certain age. A phenomenon that is amplifying in summer, when loneliness increases”.
Barbara Strappato, Deputy Director of the Postal Police
In sexual extortion, warns the deputy director of the Post Office, the pace is much faster, “even days are enough. We need to think seriously about this, the age has dropped a lot, the The victims also include 9-year-old children. After a few messages it is established a relationship of trust and there intimate material is exchanged. It ends with Images That are put up for sale in paedophile groups”. There are those who for sexual extortion led to suicide.
Yet child pornography images, drugs or weapons are not the main items traded on the dark web, the policewoman reveals. “Best Sellers – explains – they are people’s data”.
And this information also contains the answer to the question: how do these intruders get on our WhatsApp? How do they know our mobile number? “It’s not that someone gave it to them or who are looking for us – Barbara Strappato explains -. In reality we give our utilities for many purposes, by our choice, because they ask us for it for the supermarket card or for a cinema subscription. When data theft occurs in a computer system of a medium-small company, not particularly strong, that data is usually put up for sale, literally. And there are everyone’s numbers there”.
But who is on the other side of the ‘wire’? “Real associations – clarifies the expert -. The aim is to create an easy profit, romance scams they can extort up to 150,000 euros. A person thinks of living a relationship. She is bombarded with messages, “good morning, how are you”, flowers arrive for the birthday and the confidence arrives, I can’t get to you, they blocked my account”. The beginning of the end. Like a spider’s web. “These people wrap up the victim, even writing to her day and night,” the policewoman reveals. “In the end, there is no more lucidity.”
Reporting is difficult, “because people are ashamed.” Six hundred a year arrive at the Post Office. So, what should you do? “After having blocked or reported the number – explains the deputy director of the Post Office – the invitation is to write to www.commissariatodips.it. Why there is always a solution”.
But where does the thread of messages lead?? Where are they located? the scam centers? “Our investigations – explains the manager – have led us several times in Nigeria, years ago we did arrests in Morocco for sexual extortion. Ivory Coast has never responded to our requests. We always try to understand where the money goes. Because the other thread is that of who proposes financial investments”. Naturally ruinous.
