Regarding the plethora of scam SMS messages (this morning it was 'DGT' telling me I had a multa...) has anyone used the INCIBE incident alert service which I discovered this morning (whilst googling SMS from DGT)

https://www.incibe.es/en/incibe-cert...ident-handling

Wondering if it does any good to report these scam SMSs etc...?? or is there any other worthwhile service trying to combat this issue?

The heading states the service is: "for both Spanish citizens and private legal companies"

So perhaps they are not a service interested in expats being hit by the same scam messages.....

Steve

I've had them, and I've never even had or driven a car. I've had them from people purporting to be other organisations especially Correos about needing information to deliver a (non existent) parcel. I really don't think reporting them has any effect, best just to be vigilant, delete them and block the number. This morning I've had an alert from my bank saying my credit card has been temporarily deactivated because of a suspicious attempted transaction in the early hours of this morning. This is the second time in six months this has happened. At least the bank's security procedures seem to be good but they don't seem interested in investigating where these scams are coming from and they are a real nuisance.

I had a scam email from 'Carrefour' as I have their card I thought that the Carrefour card database must have been compromised - I emailed Carrefour and didn't even get a reply. Mind you I don't expect much from their customer services.

Yes, I also have had the Correos and Sabadell scam emails...

'So perhaps they are not a service interested in expats being hit by the same scam messages....

I don't think they are intentionally being anti-Expat

I have also had this message but it was allegedly from a bank that I do not and have never had an account with so at least it made me smile.

Rosemary

If in doubt copy/paste the link given into google.

Scam emails and SMS are a massive global problem (have been for years) and investigating them is almost impossible because billions are sent by bots, its a case of trying to block the sources which comes from users reporting them which doesn't always show immediate results for the user.

In the case of the security alert from my bank, I can't see how my reporting it would help anything because it was them who reported the breach to me so they have more information about it than I do! These scams are so frequent now I think people are beginning to feel "under siege" from them, I know I am. And it makes it hard sometimes to carry out genuine transactions - I opened a new savings account recently and had difficulty setting the provider up as a new payee from my current account. I had to go through the whole gamut of questions like has anybody told you to make this payment, where did you get the bank details for the payment to be sent to, are you aware this could be a scam, blah blah. I know they are only doing their jobs and looking out for their customers, but it's an annoying and unpleasant aspect of modern life. And we call it progress.

My reply about 'reporting' was in a general context not specifically about your bank. If its a scam email simply reporting it as junk, provides useful information to your email provider, if its a scam SMS report it to your telco as it enables them to build up a picture of the source, but reporting won't magically stop them. I whole heartedly agree it's a daily pain but sadly part of modern life.

Regarding the caution applied by banks in making payments or setting up payees etc, we have to keep in mind that banks have an obligation to protect those who maybe vulnerable to fraud and scams. Many people get scammed and then criticise or take legal action against the bank for not protecting them.

It's a bad translation, in the original Spanish version it's for everyone.

para los ciudadanos y entidades de derecho privado en España

The Correos have implemented an anti-scam on their genuine emails -

they send you a code at the bottom of their email which you can cut and paste into the genuine Correos website and it verifies it was from them.EMAIL SEGURO

deouaRWRWxxxxxx (I have part deleted the number they sent me)

Este código es único e identifica tu correo electrónico. Comprueba su autenticidad en la web de Correos: correos.es
(This code is unique and identifies your email address. Check its authenticity on the Correos website: correos.es)

Usually I just report to the URL link shortening service they use. Typically they're not using their own (as the domains would just get blocked). This way the page they link to gets removed straight away and all the existing messages they've sent out are useless.

I did find out once where they were submitting the information after going through the form. They had used an API key which had too many permissions so I simply just messed with their system a bit. if you're curious what the backend to one of these operations looks like here you go (I've removed any personal information along with the site name etc):



Thousands of messages were being sent constantly and a surprising amount of people were falling for it.

I reported it but I doubt anything got done. (Edit: this was months ago and can say pretty much definitely nothing got done, its still live)

There's also the Guardia Civil's online crime page.

We used it to report details about a bank scam SMS/call aimed at the in-laws which nearly cost them their savings but I'm pretty sure nothing happened there either. From the beginning things didn't look very promising because the 1000-character form rejects the symbols which you need to report website addresses. Also we got no reply despite filling in our contact info.