The Attorney General’s Office (GP) has warned of a recent increase in fraudulent phone calls to the police to obtain information and money from victims in activities carried out by international organized crime groups.
“Another fraudulent campaign is underway on communications networks, involving mass phone calls to indiscriminate recipients in Portugal. (…) Calls of this kind have been detected since the last days of July 2023, with their frequency increasing significantly during the month. August,” the PGR Cybercrime Authority (PGR) said in a statement posted on the Department of State’s (MP) website.
According to the disclosures, the victims receive a phone call in which they hear a recorded message in English from the alleged “International Judicial Police” warning that the relevant identity document is linked to international crimes and that it could lead to arrest. order. when the victim presses a key to hear more information about the case.
The alleged agent is then called, who also speaks English – “usually with an accent common in the Indian subcontinent region” – after which the victim’s personal details are requested.
“The only purpose of this dialogue is to convince the victim to transfer the money that he has in his accounts to safe accounts that the perpetrator indicates to him,” PGR emphasized, adding that “such phone calls are fraudulent. any organization, service, police or judicial department. They are carried out by criminal agents who are part of international organized criminal groups.”
PGR recommends caution to people who receive phone calls from unknown numbers and do not respond to requests made by disconnecting and reporting this to the criminal police or the deputy.