Classifieds platform OLX says fashion and electronics are the most common victims of phishing scams. Most phishing attempts reach consumers through social media and email, but they can also come through text messages, direct messages, or even phone calls.

Fraud data

OLX, the largest nationwide classifieds platform, is warning users about online fraud attempts. So far, 60% of frauds that occur on trading platforms are reported to banks, 30% are reported to online platforms, and about 10% remain unreported.

Recent data collected internally by OLX shows that in the past two months alone, the most vulnerable product categories by number of users were: fashion (33%), electronics (30%), home and garden (14%), mother and baby (10%) ), sports (7%) and 6% (auto parts).

Regarding the distribution by location, the majority of cyber fraud victims come from urban areas (80%), including Bucharest (25%).

Most phishing attempts reach the consumer through social media, email, but they can also come through text messages, direct messages, or even phone calls (“phishing”), where the attacker pretends to be interested in purchasing a product.

The text of the message will be designed in such a way that attackers will try to obtain sensitive data, get consumers to open a website or possibly a file that contains malware.

What is phishing?

“Phishing” translates to “fishing on the Internet” because it involves offering bait through messages that direct users to fake pages in order to obtain passwords and access to personal information or even card details in order to steal certain amounts of money.

What to do if you are a victim of a phishing attack?

Notify the bank immediately and report the problem to block the card. File a complaint with the Romanian police or the nearest police station. Contact the OLX customer support team and send them a link to the fake page at [email protected] to block it immediately. Block the attacker’s phone number, report the phone numbers from which you contact the social media platform or mobile operator.

The scammer may write with many grammatical errors, use strange expressions or a very guarded tone. He may be pressuring you to hurry up with the deal. In this case, end the conversation and report the user.

Beware of fake links and clone pages.

Keep conversations on OLX chat platform / buying and selling platform to protect yourself from scammers. Be very careful if someone asks you to transfer the chat to WhatsApp or takes your number and messages you directly on another platform. It is best to tell him to continue the conversation on the buying and selling platform. That way, in the event of fraud, the support team can investigate.

Pay attention to grammar and tone.

Keep the card details with you. Number, expiry date and CVV/CVC code are NOT information to provide. If you need to receive money, you will not need to provide the specified data under any circumstances. Whoever sends you money for the products you sell on trading platforms only needs your IBAN and full name.

If you did provide your card details and received a transaction authorization message, remember to never authorize a payment that you did not initiate! Read the received messages carefully and contact the bank if you have any doubts.

“From what we have observed so far, the attacker makes contact on social networks very quickly after the publication of the ad (5-10 minutes) and is very interested in buying the product. Basically, it avoids paying/receiving through normal banking apps or the apps of the bank that issues the card used in the transaction, and suggests, I even insist, that the payment/receiving is done through different apps or links that appear only through OLX. At the same time, he asks for a minimum amount available in the bank account to be able to be a seller or buyer on the platform and continues to pressurize for payment,” says Melania Budulan, Fraud Prevention Manager at OLX. “In most cases, victims do not realize that they have been deceived, the first step in preventing and blocking further attacks is to detect the attack itself,” adds Melania Budulan.

OLX encourages all consumers to be extremely careful about the phone number they are contacted from, especially if it does not have a Romanian prefix, the manner of expression of the person contacting them, and not to follow payment/withdrawal links, even if they look like links from the platform. It is important that users never provide their card details to receive cash, and never provide the CVV code.