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Beware of phishing messages that appear to come from government services

Last week, we received more reports of phishing messages that appear to come from government departments.  The annual messages from governments about taxes, pensions, holiday pay, etc. are a big inspiration for scammers. They pretend to be the Government Finance Department, the Federal Pension Service, the Flemish Government, etc.

The messages below appear to be from My e-Box or My Citizen Profile but they are fake.  You can 'unmask' the fake messages, by hovering your mouse over the button without clicking on it.  At that point, the URL will appear and you will see that it does not point to the correct URL. In the example below, the recipient is addressed as 'Dear Maria D'Haeyer', but the recipient is not Maria D'Haeyer.  That too is very suspicious.

Of course, it is possible that you are receiving a genuine message from the government, so always look very carefully.

Burgerprofiel
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My e-Box
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What to do if you are not sure?

Go to https://myebox.be via a browser yourself.   There you can securely log in to My e-Box and check if you have a new message.

More info from My e-Box on phishing: https://myebox.be/nl/news/my-ebox-phishing-mails-in-omloop

 

Don't fall into the trap!

Learn to identify fake e-mails.T

What to do?

  • Do not click on a link in a suspicious message, do not open attachments and do not download applications if you are asked to.
  • Suspicious emails can be forwarded to suspicious@safeonweb.be.
  • Suspicious text messages can also be forwarded. Take a screenshot and send it to suspicious@safeonweb.be. The content is then processed automatically.

Did you click on a suspicious link?

  • If you have clicked on the link, do not complete the fields and terminate any interaction.
  • NEVER give out personal codes.
  • If you have entered a password that you also use elsewhere, change it immediately.

Have you been scammed?

  • If you have lost money or are being extorted, we recommend that you file a report with your local police straight away.
  • Contact your bank and/or Card Stop on 078 170 170 (+32 78 170 170 from abroad) if you have passed on bank details, money is disappearing from your bank account or if you have transferred money to a scammer. In this way, any fraudulent transactions can be blocked.
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