In these times, all kinds of scams can reach us through multiple means. In recent years, we have become accustomed to suspicious messages that reach us by email, WhatsApp, or in the form of SMS. However, now we find a warning from Social Security itself that uses conventional mail.
On multiple occasions we have found that organizations such as DGT or the Tax Agency are used to try to deceive us, take our private data and steal money from us. In this case we want to focus on a new scam that reaches us through a physical letter and that pretends to be Social Security itself.
We must keep in mind that at this moment, the General Treasury of Social Security is issuing a warning to the citizens of our country through its official accounts on social networks.
What is the Social Security letter scam like?
Specifically, it tells us about a new scam attempt that uses a letter with its logo and that can reach any of us in our homes. To give us an idea of how this scam attempt works, the letter we received at home asks us to send a photo of our ID on both sides to an email address.
As you can imagine, with this we run a serious risk of identity theft from that moment on. This is a technique that is increasingly widespread to obtain all types of private data and even access the bank accounts of those affected. Once malicious actors have a complete copy of our National Identity Document, they use various techniques to impersonate us and cause us all kinds of problems.
And in addition, in the scam we are focusing on now, apart from the copy of the document on both sides, they also ask for the sending of a bank statement in which we appear as account holders. The excuse used to request this data via email is that Social Security has recently suffered a cyber attack. For this reason, they say, they have lost all the data of certain taxpayers and need to update it as soon as possible.
Avoid becoming a victim of this scam
As we have mentioned on many occasions, no organization is going to request personal data from us through email or a WhatsApp message. Furthermore, we must always pay close attention to the Internet or email addresses that we receive when making these requests, as is the case in the case at hand. Normally, we will quickly realize that it is a hoax, since this address will make us suspicious.
Likewise, in case of doubt, we always have the possibility of establishing contact with the organization, as such, in this case Social Security, to ensure that the message received, or the letter, is completely legal. In these times we should be alert to these types of scams that are increasingly common and dangerous.