Attention: False reimbursement emails threaten your credit card data!

Attention: False reimbursement emails threaten your credit card data!

Deutschland - The contribution service of ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio warns of a current fraud stitch that presents itself in the form of fake emails. These emails provide information about alleged reimbursements from broadcasting contributions paid and try to obtain credit card data from the recipient. The tz.de reports that criminals often begin with a general salutation, such as "Dear customer", and no specific contribution number. Instead, the term "broadcasting fees" is used, which is considered another indication of the forgery, since only radio contributions have been collected since 2013.

Another striking feature of these fake messages is the sender address. This is often made up of randomly generated letters and looks dubious. The emails often contain links that refer to damaged Software that aims to intercept personal information such as account and credit card details. In addition, the contribution service advises that no reimbursements are made via credit cards and that no credit card details are queried by them.

Important information on the recognition of fake emails

The consumer advice centers and Computerbild have published important information how to recognize such fraudulent emails:

• The sender uses cryptic email addresses.
• The salutation is impersonal and general.
• A contribution number is missing.
• The request to provide credit card data is formulated unmistakably.
• false contact addresses, such as support@bartservice.de that does not exist.

fraud warnings are particularly important because this stitch is not limited to the broadcasting contribution. Other phishing attempts, for example by Comdirect, were also reported, which are requesting their users to update apps, with dubious forms of address and threatening deadlines to be found. To ensure that no sensitive information is lost, these emails should be marked and deleted as spam.

recommendations for prevention

recipient of such suspicious messages should be particularly careful and follow the following steps:

• Delete the email immediately if it seems suspicious to you.
• mark the message as spam.
• If you have already clicked on left or entered data, inform your credit card providers and the local police office immediately.

Security on the Internet requires constant vigilance. The Consumer center also advises to only update apps via official stores and ensure that user-defined links are always critically questioned in emails. This is the only way to effectively protect yourself against the steadily growing threats to online fraud.