Beware of this new scam launched for the start of the school year! Fraudulent sites promise to reveal the composition of your child’s class in advance. This is actually impossible!
A pivotal moment for children and a source of stress for parents, the start of the school year is often prepared as early as August. Between the supplies, clothing and various equipment needed for learning in good conditions, there is plenty to do! But one point still remains pending until the decisive moment: which class will our charming offspring be in? This may seem anecdotal, but it can partly determine the year to come. Also, it can be tempting to know your child’s classmates or teacher right away. And cybercriminals have understood this well!
So they came up with a scam targeting anxious parents by playing on their curiosity, as the alert states Signal-Scams. Thus, some platforms like VoirMaClasse.com and RevealClasse.fr – now inaccessible – promise Internet users to know in a few clicks the exact class composition of their child. This is in reality a way to obtain their precious personal data.
Back-to-school scam: sites that play on parents’ anxiety
These fraudulent sites do not hesitate to use the visual codes of official government sites to deceive unfortunate parents. The latter are invited to complete a form mentioning the first name, last name and date of birth of the child, as well as the name and city of the school, and contact details. Then, a list appears with several blurred names, after which it is asked to “prove that you are not a robot” by clicking on multiple links and completing missions, such as installing apps, contests, surveys, etc.
Of course, this is not a real tool that allows you to know the composition of a class in advance, but rather a scam. Indeed, it is simply impossible to know the composition of classes in advance, which can change up until the last moment. And even if this were the case, it is unlikely that an establishment would agree to sell this sensitive data to an external organization.
In the best cases, these fraudulent sites use affiliate links, which allow them to recover money by directing Internet users to products and services. But some go further and do not hesitate to direct them directly into scams, by making them subscribe to hidden subscriptions for example.
If you have provided school credentials to this type of platform, contact the school immediately to inform them and secure your account. If sensitive personal data is shared, report it to the police to report a potential risk of identity theft. If you have provided banking information, contact your bank to block transactions and follow the appropriate security advice. Finally, don’t forget to report the fraudulent site to Signal Spam and Pharos.