Virtual frauds have had another behavior. At the end of 2021, the Condusef registered a significant increase in possible virtual fraud with 24 thousand 442 claims, an increase of 52.4% compared to the previous year. At the end of June 2022, it received 12,837 reports, which means an increase of 5.8% compared to the same period in 2021. Two causes are related to this alleged crime: unrecognized electronic transfers and unrecognized charges via the Internet.
Something else must be added to these data: the dark figure of crimes that are not reported and whose consequences are only assumed by those who suffer them. According to figures provided by the Citizen Council, in Europe the dark figure for property crimes is around 65% and in Latin America it is between 80% and 85%. An atrocity.
In reality, the black figure is impossible to assess because it has many faces: from those who detect a small charge in their bank account but do not report it, to those who have lost their identification and still do not know that someone with their name has already applied for a loan.
“There is a dark figure out there that is dancing but I cannot quantify it for you,” says Jesús Chávez, from Condusef.
“Many people do not follow the investigation and only share their information as a matter of relief, of solidarity so that others do not fall. Many people think that, given the amount, there is no longer any point in continuing, only 7.8% of the reports become investigation files,” adds Salvador Guerrero Chiprés, president of the Citizen Council for Security and Justice of Mexico City.
It is known that the incidence of these crimes worries banks and authorities, due to the evolution and sophistication of the ‘vultures’ that take advantage of legal channels to do their thing, due to the universe of apps that have emerged and that are not part of the system and it is not possible to trace and even because of the boom that financial crimes could register in the face of future consumption seasons such as the national holidays, the Good End and Christmas.
Who should pay for the misdeeds of the ‘vultures’? The users? The bench? Government? No one is really to blame or, in any case, there are shared responsibilities. The banks must strengthen their security mechanisms, the authorities improve their strategies for prosecuting crime and we must detonate our financial culture.
We have to do something now. Here are some tips: consult the Credit Bureau; hire the financial product that meets the user’s needs; require information related to guarantees, commissions receivable, alerts; not give financial information to anyone, so if you receive a call to report an unrecognized charge or to update bank information, say thank you, hang up, take the card, turn it over, and speak directly to the financial institution.
“The most important thing is that any emergency that arises or any extraordinary offer, in general, is true. Everything that comes in by phone, in regards to emergencies or supposed supply situations, is false in 98% of cases”, warns Guerrero Chiprés.
The ‘vultures’ take advantage of the ‘wow factor’ and fear. Let’s keep calm. Money is scarce and there is a feeling of vulnerability and loss, but it is important to be clear, for example, that any offer that pretends to solve our lives in 5 minutes is a fraud; Before everything that sounds good, nice and cheap, it is best to think twice.