Fake tax office SMS

Salzburg man (66) ripped off: tens of thousands of euros gone

A 66-year-old man from the province of Salzburg fell victim to an online scam last Friday and lost tens of thousands of euros. Three days earlier, the pensioner had received a text message purporting to come from the Ministry of Finance. 

A man pretending to be a cyber expert from his bank then gained online access to the victim's computer and withdrew several sums of money, the police reported in a press release on Sunday.

The local man was informed in the text message last Tuesday that the deadline for online financial access was about to expire. The man was told to enter his details via a link, which he did. On Friday, an alleged employee of the cyber security center of his bank called to say that his account was being hacked. The caller persuaded the pensioner to grant him access to his computer via remote maintenance software. This was followed by a phone call lasting several hours, during which he was repeatedly urged to authorize transfers until the contact was broken off.