Lately, the bombing of notices of the National Police and the Civil Guard has returned by warning of the wave of “scams” (cybethafs) that are being produced by different ways (Telefónica, SMS, WhatsApp messages, mails, etc.), in which cybercriminals throw remittances of thousands of messages or emails (“spam”) Telephones obtained from illegal databases housed in the “Dark Web” (fueled with theft of user information such as, for example, the one suffered by LinkedIn in November 2023), to seize money and/or the personal data of many unsuccessful citizens who are surprised in their good faith or by their need.
In addition to the traditional “phishing” to attack the bank accounts of individuals and companies and subtract their money with their own data delivered by them thanks to their ruling, other scams have also been generalized such as the false letter of the AEAT or social security requesting personal information and on bank accounts of the recipients, in relation to an alleged benefit to which they say they have the right, the return of amounts that would supposedly correspond to it, Completing a certain procedure are a penalty of being sanctioned if they do not do it.
And there are many other modalities, such as the false job offer in which it is communicated to have been selected for a certain position that does not really exist; The simulated traffic fine in which the identity of the DGT is supplanted ensuring that it has been subject to a traffic sanction; The modified QR codes of the parking meters, in which the original is replaced by another by a sticker, which when scanning it redirects to a website that supplants the true one with a technique known as “website spoofing”; or the so -called Timo of pets, made by fake ads on animals for sale websites in which dog dogs and cats are offered at seductive prices.
Increase in cybethafs
The best remedy in the face of this is not to click the links, not respond and, in any case, provide the data requested, in the line of the communications issued by the police bodies and the different affected agencies. But, when it is late because the victim has already done so, it would be necessary to go, among others, the criminal type of scam established in articles 248 and following of the Criminal Code, anticipating aggravating ones such as the use of computer means or that affects an indeterminate number of people.
That said, the truth is that they are complicated crimes to pursue due to the difficulty in identifying their authors on many occasions, which makes necessary an important forensic research work, since in cyberspace everything leaves a trace, so it is possible to locate the tests of the scam, as well as the person responsible for it.
But cybercrime recipients are not only individuals, but also have public companies and institutions, to extort them through the encryption of their information; or to get bank transfers to accounts abroad for allegedly ordered by a manager, which was traditionally done through manipulated mails, but that lately it is being perfected with the use of artificial intelligence for the cloning of voices to deceive the recipient who believes he has spoken with his superior and follow his instructions.
This is the reason why in January 2025 it was announced by the Government that will be obliged to public companies and agencies to take measures to protect themselves from cyber attacks, as well as the creation of the National Cybersecurity Center under the protection of the future Coordination and Governance Law of Cybersecurity.
Lately, the National Police notice and the Civil Guard alerting the wave of “scams” (cybetheresthafs) that are being produced by different ways (Telefónica, SMS, WhatsApp messages, mails, etc.) has returned.
On other occasions, arguments of this type are not required, but the ability to persuasion of the authors, who manage to convince their followers of the goodness of paying for certain goods or services, is enough. This could have been the case of the influencer Amadeo Llados – Famoso for qualifiers such as “Fucking Panzas” and “Mileurists” -, against which in 2024 a complaint was filed before the National Court for more than a thousand people who claimed to have been scammed with online courses to “win their first million euros” at the rate of about 1,800 euros each, without prejudice to the fact that it was unimportant to understand the court within its scope of competencies.
Another recent shock has been that of the pyramidal scam (“Rug Pulling”) suffered in February 2025 by thousands of people in Argentina with the purchase of the $ pound cryptoc In a few hours to completely collapse its value in seconds, without being avoided, not being supervised by any monetary institution, so that those responsible for the project disappeared with the funds raised.
Within the European Union, since December 2023, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and the Council, of May 31, 2023, relative to cryptoactive markets (Mica Regulation), which establishes guarantees for investors and requirements for operators, which must register or request a license in the CNMV, without prejudice that it is convenient that it is convenient to be careful in all Case, since the issuance, offer and negotiation of some digital assets are regulated, the NFTS, cryptocurrencies and tokens for limited purposes, digital currencies of central banks and those regulated by Mifid II (actions, bonds, derivatives, etc.) being excluded.
