Lisbon, July 20, 2025 (Lusa) - The PSP police force and consumer association, Deco, warn of the growth of “spoofing”, a technique used in computer fraud that falsifies telephone numbers to deceive victims, and have called for stronger legal protection and greater consumer awareness.
The Public Security Police (PSP) system currently identifies the number of reports on this particular crime with ongoing refinement, and an official PSP source told Lusa that they are monitoring the phenomenon closely and stressed that victims typically file a complaint when the call actually results in fraud.
Spoofing involves falsifying an entity (such as an email, phone number, website, or IP address) to create an appearance of legitimacy and trust in that contact, with the aim of deceiving the victim, the source explained.
Cybercriminals pose as banks, well-known companies, or public institutions to obtain the victim’s personal data or credentials for criminal purposes, the PSP warned.
These scams can have serious consequences, ranging from theft of bank details to unauthorised access to private content on victims’ mobile phones, such as photographs or contacts. In some cases, fraudsters convince victims to make bank transfers, often with the promise of fictitious investments.
On the consumer side, concern is also growing. Although concrete figures remain unavailable, Luís Pisco, a lawyer for the consumer protection association Deco, confirms that "many consumers are seeking information about this type of fraud attempt".
According to him, this type of fraud is an evolution of phishing practices, which now also use voice calls (vishing) or text messages (smishing), with spoofing to simulate trustworthy phone numbers.
Luís Pisco also points out that fraudsters “mask or falsify the phone number from which they send messages or make calls (“spoofing”), posing as reputable entities such as the government, banks, public and private service providers.
The PSP emphasises the importance of prevention, advising citizens to remain vigilant to generic calls or messages, to avoid clicking on suspicious links, to keep their phone number private on social media, and to block unwanted calls.
Deco advises consumers to stay alert and protect their digital well-being by recognising social engineering techniques that attempt to exploit their trust and learning opportunities. “You should hang up and independently confirm the accuracy of any information provided (or sent by message). “Share personal data on social media only when necessary, and protect sensitive data, because doing so keeps attackers from obtaining information they could misuse,” warns Luís Pisco.
Both entities recommend reporting all attempts at fraud, even when they cause no damage. However, Deco’s lawyer stresses that current legislation “offers consumers only limited protection” and calls for an urgent update to oblige communications operators to implement more effective prevention and detection measures.
“The legislation in force offers limited protection for consumers in these situations and requires urgent updating concerning measures for the prevention, detection and repression of these practices by electronic communications service providers,” argues the Deco lawyer.
“In addition, there are technical solutions that can at least mitigate the effects of these attacks and that teams can and should implement,” he concludes.
SCR/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
