Some Vodafone users have reported receiving an SMS inviting them to verify their phone number. But it's a scam
A new scam is affecting, since a few days, the users of the mobile operator Vodafone: a phishing SMS invites users to connect to a scam site where they are asked to provide the scan of their documents. Otherwise, explains the SMS scam, the phone number will be blocked.
In detail, the SMS reads: "Dear customer, to keep the number active you need to verify your data on verificadati.it/vodafone". The site in question is not Vodafone's at all and the operator is totally unrelated to this scam. However, if the user clicks on the link, he is sent to a web page where he finds the logo of Vodafone, the classic graphics of the operator and even the indications of the Copyright of Vodafone Italia S.p.A with the VAT number and the REA number. Finally, there are also links pointing to the real Vodafone site.
Don't enter that data
But most of the space on the page of the fake site is devoted to a form for collecting user data: phone number, name, surname, email address. Then there is the invitation to provide the digital copy of their documents: "Upload or scan both sides of your photo ID. Make sure the photo, signature, date of birth and expiration dates are visible." As if that wasn't enough, the fake site asks for the inclusion of two documents, one is not enough. In this way, the perpetrator of the scam manages to get all the necessary data to clone our identity, which will come in very handy in the future to pull off more scams.
Who is behind the Vodafone data verification scam
The very strange thing about this scam is that it is in the open. Anyone can verify that the website https://verificadati.it was registered on July 12, 2019 at 13:15 and 46 seconds by a person from Calasca Castiglione in the province of Verbania, Piedmont. Name and surname of this person, who would seem to be a woman, can bring the Law Enforcement to her home in a matter of minutes. So, the things are two: or who has created the scam site has used a false identity to register the domain, or he will have soon big troubles with the justice.
Vodafone has nothing to do with it
The telephone operator, in all this, is victim as much as the users: its logos, data and graphics are used by a delinquent to make a good scam. Vodafone claims to have already filed a complaint about the facts but, it is good to note, the fake site is still online and working.