Don't let the alarms go off. The 088 fraud is not something new, but it is trending again in searches in the last few hours. As often happens with the hoaxes that proliferate on social networks and also through the messaging application, after a while they re-emerge . In fact, they usually have several versions to try to infect as many people as possible, since when you ask someone if they have received that message, they could say no since it is not something unified.
In the last hours it has been known that it is in Pamplona where many messages have returned with the fraud of the number 088 . Via WhatsApp , different versions of this fraud have arrived before which we have to take several precautions so as not to end up on the list of those affected.
This is the message that we will receive, which, as we have said before, can be modified. But to get an idea and not bite, we will know more or less how they usually describe it:
088 already works
Please pass it on.
EMERGENCY TELEPHONE FROM MOBILE FREE
FOR ALL OF US WHO HAVE A MOBILE PHONE (OR, EVERYONE), I WILL INFORM YOU
THAT YOU CAN ALREADY WARN OF ACCIDENTS, INJURIES, EMERGENCIES IN
ROADS, ETC., FROM YOUR MOBILE.
YOU ONLY HAVE TO DIAL 088.
IT IS AT NATIONAL LEVEL AND IT DOES NOT HAVE ANY COST.
CALLING 091 or O92 IS PAID.
IT WILL BE GOOD FOR YOU TO FORWARD THIS INFORMATION.
How to protect ourselves from 088 fraud
In the first place, we must systematically distrust any message that reaches us and immediately give us a "pass it on." Official information will never arrive through this route, much less with a message that is really a chain. This type of operation is very reminiscent of the chains that used to arrive by mail every little bit with attached files. The operation is the same, but what has been done is to change the broadcast method now using the most used messaging application.
On the other hand, you must remember that the emergency number 112 is free , while 091 of the National Police and 092 of the Municipal Police have a symbolic cost of establishing a call (around 3 and 4 cents). This cost is not usually included in the flat rates for calls as it is of special rate.
088 is not the new number for emergencies.
As for the notifications that arrive over the Internet, the simplest thing would be to follow both the Police (@ police) and the Civil Guard ( @guardiacivil ) on Twitter to be aware of the messages they may send, since they do They are official and will not put us at risk.
Another thing we should do is warn the person who is sending the message that it is a hoax , to prevent them from continuing to send it to their WhatsApp contacts or groups and that it spreads excessively.