It was at the beginning of July 2024 that Stina Odencrantz got a nasty surprise on his car. There was a yellow note fluttering under the windshield wiper that looked like a parking fine, but on closer inspection the fine turned out to be fake.
What should you actually do if you fall victim to the fraud method? Arnaud Matzbusiness developer at the Swedish Transport Agency, has the answer.
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When News24 got in touch with Stina Odencrantz, she told me that the fake fine was very similar to a real fine.
– I didn’t think it was fake at first. But when I didn’t get the ocr number linked to my registration number on the police website to appeal, and that the times were wrong and the amount was too high, I suspected something, she told Nyheter24.
Stina Odencrants contacted Örebro municipality, which confirmed that there were no parking attendants on duty on the evening in question, which made it clear that she had fallen victim to an attempted fraud.
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Stina Odencrantz together with the fake birth control bot. Photo: Private.
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The Swedish Transport Agency: This is what you do if you get a fake p-bot
Nyheter24 has spoken to Arnaud Matz, business developer at the Swedish Transport Agency, to find out how to act if you fall victim to the scammers’ new tricks.
Arnaud Matz tells Nyheter24 that the Swedish Transport Agency has seen similar frauds before, but it has never been so skillfully executed as in the case of Stina Odencrantz.
– This case was much better executed than what we have seen before. This is precisely why it is very important to check which bank giro number you make your payment to, he says.
If you forget to double-check the bank giro number and pay the fake p-bot, the Swedish Transport Agency unfortunately cannot ensure that the money is returned to the fraud victim, the reason being that the fake p-bot is not registered in their system.
– The fake p-bot is not registered in our systems, and the money is not in our systems either. This means that the Swedish Transport Agency cannot send any money back, says Arnaud Matz and adds:
– What can be done is to report what has happened to the police.
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