More and more citizens of Cagliari are victims, every day, of the now well-known " ATM scam ". A real "epidemic" of cases in the city, with at least four or five reports a day at the Police Headquarters, to the point that the State Police issued a note to draw the attention of citizens to the phenomenon, informing about the most frequent procedures with which the bad guys manage to deceive their victims.
The "modus operandi" is almost always the same: the victim , after placing an ad on an online portal for the sale of an object, is contacted by a fake buyer . The scammer, immediately showing interest, proposes the advance payment with the intention of completing the purchase of the object and, after having found the agreement, suggests the seller to go to an ATM to formalize the payment . The victim, trusting in the good faith of the buyer, follows his instructions usually provided in constant telephone contact: after selecting the "Postepay top-up" command, he enters the digits indicated by the criminal as the number of the purchase order operation which he actually does take a payment.
The ability of the malefactor consists both in taking advantage of the victim's unfamiliarity with ATM operations and, at the same time, in disorienting him, giving him quick and confused indications over the phone, so as to lead him to believe that the operations carried out are aimed at receiving of money and not to those of a payment in favor of the buyer.
When the victim reveals the first suspicions, it is too late: the alleged buyer, having received the credit on the prepaid card, becomes unavailable by deactivating the mobile phone number provided in the negotiation phase.
In some circumstances, scammers manage to steal money even on multiple prepaid cards in the victim's name.
The State Police of Cagliari invites anyone who has suffered such scams, or in any case suspects that you are facing an attempted scam, to ask for help, even by calling 113.
(Unioneonline / vl)