If you receive a call that leaves you wondering if it’s legitimate or some type of scam, hang up immediately and call the financial institution the call supposedly came from. In this way you can verify if it was really a call from that bank, for example.
Authorities remind us that institutions don’t call to request personal or sensitive information such as bank account details. They also do not ask you to download a program on your computer. If you get a call like this, turn off your computer at once. If you are the victim of fraud, file a complaint with the OIJ.
In a recent scam, fraudsters stole ₡60 million from a high school, Colegio Superior de Señoritas. The call that allowed this to happen lasted for three hours and was made to the former president of the board. I’d like to hear how they kept her on the phone for three hours if she wasn’t involved somehow in the scam. She would have ended the call at once because she is no longer president.
She wasn’t supposed to have continued access to the school’s bank account. Her term ended in May 2021 and the school requested only the current president and accountant have access. An official letter from the Ministry of Education asked this of the bank when the board changed. The process was not completed.
The money stolen was meant to pay the salary of some workers. Instead, it was deposited to 33 people, whose names and ID numbers are now known to the authorities.
On March 16, a similar case happened. A special education school was the victim of a scam that took out ₡68 million over 17 transactions in 90 minutes. That money was supposed to finance food, aid, transportation, and maintenance.
