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Taylor Swift trapped in Murcia: Scam puts all of Spain on alert
User publishes alleged message she received from Taylor Swift
In recent days, a screenshot with a strange message sent allegedly by Taylor Swift has gone viral. The message has given rise to all kinds of jokes on social media. However, the danger of such situations cannot be ignored.
A user has shared a message on social media where someone pretending to be the singer claims to be trapped in Murcia. The message goes on to request the amount of 800 euros in order to return home.
The message is clearly an attempt at scamming people out of their money. For months, the country's authorities and digital security experts have been warning of the utmost concern in terms of cybersecurity, due to the proliferation of this type of fraud.
Such fraud is becoming more and more common, criminals impersonate public figures to gain the trust of their victims and steal their money.
A more well-known variation of such a fraud is one in which the fraudster tries to gain the victim's favour by pretending to be someone well-known, such as the mother, father, children, or a close relative.
Although at first glance it may seem obvious that this is a scam. It is important to analyse the reasons behind this trap, in order to detect them in other messages that are not as crazy.
The first clue of the falsity of this message is the identity of the sender. The message is not sent through an official channel or account, but rather through an unknown telephone number.
The second is the urgency of the request. National Police always point out that one should always be wary of messages that try to convey urgency, as it is a strategy to get people to act without thinking.
Given this situation, the authorities recommend that you neither respond to the message nor send the money. Users should block the number and report it to the relevant authorities.
Beyond the scam, this message has given rise to many jokes, where people have parodied the message with other similar ones on social media. "Hello Paula, I'm Pope Francis. I'm calling you to get €800, as I'm stuck in Albacete. If you help me, I'll save you a special place in heaven when I die." This message is one such example of the jokes that have followed the attempted scam.
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