A new banking scam has alerted thousands of users: "A large transfer has been detected..."

Unfortunately, banking scams have become a constant threat to users, and it's understandable that cybercriminals, through their attacks, seek to steal our money and data to continue committing crimes.

To achieve this, the "bad guys" have many ways to deceive us and trick us into their traps, but without a doubt one of their favorite methods, or at least one of the most repeated, is phishing. Phishing is a technique of impersonating someone through SMS messages, in which they claim to be from an organization, service, or sometimes a well-known person.

They typically look for a hook that will grab potential victims' attention and create a sense of urgency to get them to fall for their scams. The most effective method for them is undoubtedly to impersonate your bank and inform you that something has happened to your account.

On this occasion, the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) has warned of a new type of banking phishing scam in which you are alerted to an unauthorized charge , something that immediately puts us on alert and makes us want to fix it before someone supposedly continues stealing our money.

Different variants of the message have been recorded, such as:

1. On January 18th at 3:00 PM, a large immediate transfer was detected. Request immediate verification: [Fraud URL]
2. A charge of EUR 1,892.32 has been made; if you don't recognize this action, please check immediately: [Fraud URL]
3. On January 18th at 3:00 PM, a large immediate transfer was detected. Request immediate verification: [Fraud URL]
4. A charge of EUR 1,892.32 has been made; if you don't recognize this action, please check immediately: [Fraud URL]

There are hardly any errors or spelling mistakes beyond a few accents, which makes them difficult to detect. If we click and follow the link in the message, a website will open where we will have to enter our bank access codes. At that moment, we will be handing them over to cybercriminals who will then be able to use them to withdraw money and make purchases from our account.

Therefore, in these cases, it's crucial to first check on your own whether these charges have actually been made to your card, or else contact the bank directly through another means to ensure everything is okay.