Scandals are growing in France and all over the media. But where are you most likely to be fooled? Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr has revealed the main threats.
Scams are prevalent. In stores, at your door, on the phone, in your mailbox, it’s increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction. However, there are places and times of the day where you are more likely to be fooled. As such, online scams, which can happen in just a few moments, are considered the most dangerous. Good advice: Be wary of certain behaviors that are completely natural, such as responding to someone who doesn’t present themselves as a consultant, that can lead to a scam without you realizing it.
Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr has published its report on the state of threats in France, thanks to the number of consultations on its platform. It ranks first among the most numerous scams. The purpose of this is to obtain sensitive and personal information from the victim to be able to steal money from them or resell their data. It can take different forms: SMS, emails, social networks, QR codes… The most used channel for these scams is SMS, with mobile phones being the preferred target of cybercriminals.
In addition, the main phishing technique discovered in 2023 is the receipt of a false traffic offense: “with more than 280,000 consultations of the dedicated article, traffic offense phishing requesting the payment of fictitious fines is the most important phenomenon that continued throughout 2023,” describes. report. Then comes the crime of child pornography (a scam message impersonating the police) and false technical support (a fraudulent message about a serious technical problem to encourage a pseudo-repair).
After phishing, account takeover is the second most significant threat and has grown significantly (22% more searches on the site). Crooks manage to recover victims’ passwords and then access their accounts, be it messaging, social network, bank, administration, etc. They can then strip the identity of the victim.
The fake bank advisor scam has been described as the “phenomenon of the year” with a 78% increase in article traffic dedicated to this fraud. Cybercriminals collect data from victims to make their false identity as banking advisers more credible. Then, they pretend, for example, to cancel a fraudulent transaction, forcing the victim to provide their bank details. This scam is becoming more and more widespread; It depends on the naivety of each person and our willingness to respond politely to the person who comes to our aid.
For 2024, the organization is already warning against scandals surrounding the Olympic Games. This may include false links, especially for free places. Artificial intelligence, on the other hand, is not yet seen as a “cyber threat game changer” but could evolve rapidly.
