Authorities have recently uncovered a new rental scam involving the use of a photo of Carlos Cabreiro, the national director of the Judiciary Police.
According to information released by the Judiciary Police in a social media publication, the scheme originates from contacts initiated on Facebook and later forwarded to WhatsApp after the victims show interest.
To give credibility to the approach, the fraudsters resort to the improper use of the image of the national director of the Judiciary Police as a profile photo. From there, the contact quickly evolves into requests for early money transfer, allegedly to guarantee the lease.
Authorities warn of several red flags in this type of contact, such as spelling and grammar mistakes in messages, incoherent mixing of text and audio, unusual names among transfer recipients, and the use of poorly edited images with low graphic quality, including misuse of the Finance logo.
The Judiciary Police stresses that it does not use this type of procedure, nor does it authorise the use of the image of its director for any contacts of this nature. Furthermore, they ask the general public to be ultra cautious as the demand for rental properties is being exploited by scam networks.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
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