The National Police in Dénia, in collaboration with AETHMA, Association of Hoteliers of the Marina Alta, will disseminate prevention tips and guidelines to the catering establishments during these dates to avoid being victims of fraud and scams.
This National Police Station has detected two cases of fraud in a short space of time, specifically a variant of CEO Fraud.
Scammers investigate a business and make a call to it, taking advantage of the fact that the manager or owner is not there at that time. After tricking an employee, the criminals get the latter to make a series of payments to pay alleged unpaid bills or to pay for merchandise that is yet to be received.
The framework involves entertaining and putting pressure on the employee, leaving him no time to think or carry out the appropriate checks, keeping him busy with the phone call and asking him to leave the phone line free and wait for the call from the alleged delivery man, thus preventing him from contacting any someone else to get you out of the trap.
Next, an accomplice of the author makes a second call to the establishment, posing as the delivery man to check if the outstanding payments have already been made, increasing the pressure on the victim employee who, in order to gain the approval of "his boss", will seek the means to make payments as soon as possible.
Cases have also been reported in which scammers pose as the company's advisor, manager or accountant and be in the presence of the company's boss who authorizes the requested payment at that moment, which also has to be immediate.
More than a dozen cases have been detected in recent weeks throughout the Alicante province, although it is noteworthy that in a short space of time (June 8 and 14) two complaints have been filed by Dénia merchants stating that they have been defrauded of 500 and 1290 euros respectively through the method described.
