Public transport offers lure into the subscription trap

Dodgy posts ostensibly in the name of Swiss public transport organisations are currently circulating on social media. Fraudsters use fake profiles to lure potential victims into the subscription trap with attractive offers and competitions.

Cyber criminals spread their fraudulent adverts via Facebook. They advertise competitions or public transport subscriptions at unbeatable prices. All of this is done using fake profiles - but they can hardly be recognised as such. To take part in the competition or to find out more, the reader is told they must simply follow the link in the post. But beware: this link leads to a fake website.

On the fake website, visitors have to answer a few simple questions in order to benefit from the offers. They must also provide personal information such as their name, email address, phone number and debit- or credit-card-details. At the end of the process, however, there's no cheap public transport subscription, but a multi-year subscription trap. A charge is immediately debited to the card specified by the unfortunate victim. Information on the actual costs incurred is difficult to find or is only available in the general terms and conditions.

Protect yourself from such phishing traps with the following precautions:

• Read the trader's general terms and conditions.
• Only enter debit- and credit-card-details if you want to pay for something specific.
• Never disclose personal data to strangers frivolously.
• Never click on links and never open attachments.
• Never disclose login and card data.

https://www.ncsc.admin.ch/ncsc/en/home/aktuell/im-fokus/2024/wochenrueckblick_47.html