Electrica, the well-known company that is the largest distributor of electricity in Romania at the moment, has issued an official last-minute warning, which must be the attention of millions of customers in Romania. Electrica shows us what we should know about a new phishing campaign, which tries to trick Romanians into giving up their personal data, or sending money to unknown people, unfortunately.
Electrica says that this new fraud campaign is centered on sending SMS messages to customers informing them that the services they benefit from will be disconnected, due to a so-called outstanding balance. The SMS also include a link to a website of the criminals, which is made to look like the real ones of Electrica, its purpose being to convince people to "pay the outstanding balance", but this would be a colossal mistake.
Official LAST MINUTE ELECTRICAL Warning for the Immediate Attention of Millions of Romanian Customers
Electrica says that on these pages, Romanians are asked for their personal data, information about cards for a so-called "payment", but also information about the place of consumption, the contract number, plus other important information. It is extremely important not to access the links received via SMS from numbers other than 1874, the only one that Electrica uses to notify customers about any kind of information related to their contract.
Electrica says that this is the only number it uses, and it is easy to identify when we receive SMS messages, so it is essential to look very carefully at the data we receive, to be sure that it is not we are fooled. The problem is that many Romanians, whether they are customers of Electrica or not, do not know the difference between a real SMS and a phishing attack, so there are many victims every year, and their money can rarely be recovered.
Electrica has some information on its website about the methods by which we can protect ourselves against attacks of this kind, but they must also be understood by the people who read them, in order to be safe.
