Scam not SMS: do not pay this fake Crit’Air sticker!
Launched a few years ago, the air quality certificate (or Crit’Air) is a document which makes it possible to know the level of pollutant emissions of a vehicle. Depending on your level, you will be able to affix a sticker of different colors to your car or two-wheeler. This allows you, as in Paris for example, to be able to drive or not during pollution peaks and on certain days of the week. If you do not respect the law which applies to your car, then you can be fined. It is on this basis that hackers launched a new scam.
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Crit’Air: this SMS is all the rage!
For the past few weeks, French people have indeed been receiving funny text messages that point to an abnormality in their behavior regarding the Crit’Air sticker. A small message announces as well as “ Our agents found that you did not have the regulatory sticker. “. There, to avoid a fine, we invite you to click on a link in order to recover the precious sesame and be in good standing. You are then redirected to sites that are simply fake and big scams. The fear of the police still works very well… But only with honest citizens. The money you spend on these sites will be wasted and your bank details recovered by hackers. Shame…
To avoid this kind of phishing scam, the government platform shared a very clear message about this kind of practice:
The ministry’s official Crit’Air site does not send SMS messages to users to buy vignettes.
If you need to acquire and order a vignette, it will therefore be through this and no other.
Afterwards, there will always be people who will try this type of scam… And it can go moderately well, as we can see in the tweet below.
Scammers are sometimes unlucky… 🤷🏼♂️
(Swap now) pic.twitter.com/EMsJ1fFWyF
— Matthew Audibert (@MattAudibert) October 11, 2022
