Scammers are increasingly playing on the fear that one has forgotten to pay for parking, or that there is something wrong with their Vipps account.
SMS scams exploiting Easy Park and Vipps have resurfaced
ITavisen received, shortly after each other this week, two different number scams that, unsurprisingly, yield no results in online phone number databases. Common to both scams is that messages come from unknown numbers, in this case one from Norway (an attempted scam using “Easy Park” as a brand), and another from a Swedish number where the scammers tried to trick us into thinking our Vipps account was blocked: “VIPPS Dear Customer, to unblock your account, follow the steps,” followed by the urlz.fr address and the “RF” symbol, whatever it is.
The message from the alleged “EasyPark” version (which is written this way, without spaces) states:
“Dear customer! Unfortunately, we were not charged for your last parking. Update your payment method on…”, followed by the id-easypark domain and the persistent misspellings of the “EasyPark” branding. Both scam methods were tried last year and early this year.
Vipps asks its customers to be aware that they never request the following either via SMS or email:
- To provide your PIN codes
- To send us money
- Your card or account information
- Update your payment information
- General customer information. This is in the application. They are never collected on external sites.
What often characterizes these scam attempts is that the messages come in waves, and the people behind them want to let media interest wane before they try another round. This also appears to be the case with the Vipps and EasyPark experiences, so be aware and tell your loved ones to be informed too.
Here’s what Easy Park said about the attempts last year:
“Information regarding an ongoing SMS fraud attempt We would like to inform you that we have detected an ongoing SMS fraud attempt in Norway on 02.12.2022. The SMS contains a link and content stating that the phone owner has unpaid parking. This is not a message SMS from EasyPark, please do not click on the link.
We have informed the local authorities who have begun investigations. We recommend that all concerned persons report this matter to the police. If you have any questions, please contact the DPO ([email protected]), or our customer service on phone 23 30 88 80 or email: [email protected] Easy Park Team.”
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