The European Consumer Centre in Spain warns of identity theft on its network: "Victims are tricked into believing they will get their money back."

The European Consumer Centre in Spain (ECC-Spain) warns of a new scam identified by the network that brings together all European Consumer Centres (ECC-Net). Criminals pose as employees of the network and contact consumers who have generally been victims of other financial scams that have resulted in the loss of part of their capital, "making them believe they can recover their money."

This was denounced in a statement, in which it specified that, in their communications, "these false professionals present themselves as defenders of consumer rights and deceive victims into believing that the money they have lost can be recovered thanks to an operation carried out in coordination with Interpol."

"However, before making this transfer, the criminals demand personal information to verify the victims' identity through a fake 'ECC-Net KYC' form sent via WhatsApp or email," he warned. To "convince" the victims, the criminals use "false arguments," claiming that "thanks to the investigations carried out by ECC-Net in collaboration with Interpol, this financial fraud has been uncovered."

The European Consumer Centre in Spain clarified that this is a new scam and that the ECC-Net network "does not contact consumers to request payments or personal information" and "does not intervene in matters related to crimes or scams." Therefore, it recommended that anyone contacted by these scammers "immediately cease communication and report the matter to the relevant authorities."

"The communications are signed by Elena Ferrer , a supposed Chief Auditor at ECC-Net who does not exist, using an email address that does not belong to the ECC-Net network: [email protected]," he specified. In this context, he advised "verifying the identity" of the sender, using "exclusively" the official online complaint form of CEC-Spain, not making payments, protecting personal data and reporting