Contactless credit cards have become the target of at least three new types of financial fraud. Global cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab has discovered variants of the Prilex scam group that promotes various types of scams.

Prilex may be a scam group that promotes various types of financial scams – Photo: Edu Garcia/R7/Disclosure/ND

According to the investigation, Prilex became the world’s first malware capable of blocking approximate payments on infected devices, forcing the consumer to use a physical card, which opens the way for a phantom transaction.

Physical card scams have already been popular, but there is something new, namely the possibility of credit card scams as you approach.

How it works

As the R7 portal explains, purchases made by approximation have an additional, enhanced security system, since the technology is different from those made in the traditional way, when a card is inserted into the machine.

However, Prilex has learned to deceive this technology and when the victim tries to buy by approximation, the message appears on the machine: “Approximation error. Insert card.”

So, when the consumer follows the instructions given by the equipment, the data is stolen from him by criminals, by means of a phantom operation, that is, the machine sends the card data not to the bank, but to third parties.

The physical card number and encryption are immediately fixed, and the victim of the crime does not even know what they have done, sums up the losses and realizes only after the theft of money.

In addition, Prilex is able to filter fraud by card type, i.e. whether it is premium, black, or has lower limits and balances.

how to protect yourself

Because Prilex affects computers at the point of sale, retailers must pay attention to the security of their operations by keeping their computers secure.

Computers used for payment systems should not be used for other purposes, and the system should have a modern and reliable security solution, preferably solutions with multiple layers of protection. Computers with older systems should also have security solutions optimized for their versions.

Consumers may already be aware of the false error message: if it appears, they should use other payment options, such as cash or Pix, instead of a physical card.

It is important to keep track of the amounts issued on the card account, as well as through banking applications. If you discover any improper spending, you should contact the financial institution to try to resolve the issue. You can also create an incident report.