The Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) warned on Wednesday that people impersonating authorities have recently appeared in the public space and are contacting citizens by e-mail or phone, offering investment advice and at the same time demanding: the payment of sums of money.

Online fraudPhoto: Antonio Guillem / Dreamstime.com
  • “If you have been contacted by such persons, you should know that the Financial Supervisory Authority does not initiate such actions either by e-mail or telephone, does not offer investment advice, does not request sums of money or personal data.” states the ASF.

What you need to do to protect yourself from such scammers

To protect yourself from such fraudulent initiatives, you should approach any phone or e-mail you receive with caution and always check the addresses from which you were contacted, the authority emphasizes.

  • “You should be aware that those who resort to such illegal methods can clone the ASF website and change the original information. Newly created websites can be very persuasive, as they contain visual identity elements similar to the real ones and contain certain links and contact information copied from the Authority’s official website.
  • To make sure the website is genuine, check the address (URL) that appears in the address bar at the top of the web page. The URL of the official website of the ASF is: https://asfromania.ro/”, – reports the ASF.

How to tell if you’ve been contacted fraudulently:

  • usually phone calls come from a mobile phone number belonging to another country;
  • email address refers to a Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, etc. account;
  • written messages often contain grammatical or spelling errors;
  • the website address and/or social network account name may contain small changes compared to the official one, such as additional punctuation marks.

The authority also notes that the email addresses of ASF employees end in @asfromania.ro, and the official ASF social media accounts:

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Tik Tok
  • Instagram

ASF has taken a number of measures to prevent the copying and fraudulent use of employee email addresses, but there is a possibility that people using illegal methods can mislead you.

To protect against fraud attempts, ASF advises not to provide any personal information after an incoming call and not to call back using the contact information provided by callers.

If you have any suspicions about the call, the Office recommends that you hang up immediately, and to make sure that the call is genuine, contact ASF by phone (0800.825.627/021.668.1208) or by email (office@ asfromania.ro) .

Photo source: Dreamstime.com