Warning: scammers can pretend to be your relatives or acquaintances

"Hi, are you okay? Could I have your phone number? It's quite urgent. »

This type of request sent via Messenger, Facebook's chat application, seems harmless. And yet, it can hide a scam.

Your contact will mention participation in a contest, a blocked or lost phone. 

If you accept, you will then receive a PIN code that your contact will ask you to give them.

Why such a maneuvering? A hacker has in fact taken possession of your "friend's" Messenger account or created a new one and uses it to retrieve a code that will then allow him to access your phone plan and therefore make purchases in addition to your mobile plan... 

Find out more

If you are approached with this request to give your phone number, be on your guard, especially if the person does not contact you very often. Note that it is also possible to limit your mobile payments by going to the settings of your phone app. You can set a monthly limit or block premium rate numbers. 

How to spot identity theft? 

Identity theft is used in different situations: to commit illegal activities, damage a reputation, steal personal data or money.

Generally, a fake account can be identified by several clues: it was created recently, does not display many posts or friends, profile pictures are from image databases or made with the help of artificial intelligence,  and comments from other users are rare. Very often, these fake profiles quickly send you a suspicious link or a request for money by insisting and playing on the urgency. Don't react!

Do you have any doubts about an identity? Find out if your contact is really the source of the message, ask them a question that only they can answer. Call the person directly on their phone to see if they answer, or ask them to send you proof of their identity, such as a video of them making a particular gesture or saying a certain phrase. However, beware of deepfakes (we explain how to spot them here).

What to do?

If you have spotted a fake account, above all, report it. On Facebook, click on the three dots to the right of the cover photo, click on "Report profile" and then "Something about this profile", "A specific post" or "Report as illegal" and follow the steps.

Same for Instagram and X: go to the profile, click on the three dots next to the name, then on "Report" and "Report account" and "He is impersonating a third party" or "It's impersonation".

"When reporting, don't hesitate to add as many details as possible so that the moderator can fully understand the problem and therefore react appropriately. If the usurpation is not clear, it is possible that the fraud is not properly identified and processed," says Commissioner Christophe Axen, deputy director of the Regional Computer Crime Unit of the PJF in Liège.

And by email?

You can also report fraud emails directly from the message.

For your Gmail address, click "More" (three dots) next to "Reply," then "report as phishing" and report it to Google through their form.

For Outlook, you can do the same by selecting the message and tapping the three dots or "Junk" and then "Phishing" / "Report".