Scams with tickets
Boletos are a very common form of payment in our daily lives, especially for consumer accounts, installment purchases and e-commerce payments. But be careful: criminals send fake tickets that look real. Every detail is important to avoid falling for these scams.
Learn how to protect yourself:
The numbers that appear next to the barcode and at the top of the ticket are not random, but rather a composition of information so that your payment reaches the correct destination.
The first three digits, for example, identify the bank of the target account. Can you confirm that the prefix that is part of the barcode really refers to the information that appears on the ticket (bank logo, for example) in the Febraban website.
Another important information to analyze is the last numbers of the sequence, which corresponds to the value of the ticket. The amount paid will always be preceded by a series of the digit zero; therefore really consider the last numbers of the ticket.
See an example: a ticket in the amount of
R$ 2.500,10 will have the end of the barcode with the number 250010 or 000000. It is important to be aware, because fake bills can present barcodes with different numbers.
Authentic bills have a record in the form of a code, which allows them to be tracked. This is one of the solutions found by the National Federation of Banks to avoid scams and fraudeg.
The registered slip has its data registered in the issuing bank's system and, if there is a delay in payment, it will not be necessary to issue a duplicate, as the amounts of interest and fines are already added to the debt amount. In these cases, the boleto can be updated on the official website of the store where the purchase was made, at the correspondent bank or on the internet. banking.
All registered slips can be consulted easily and securely. The consultation can be carried out on the financial institution's website, ensuring that the payment is being made to the correct beneficiary.
Whenever you pay a bank slip from companies or online stores, download the document from the official website and be wary of messages and emails that contain attached slips, especially when they emphasize that payment must be made urgently.
If the only way to receive the boleto is by email, check and confirm the sender's email. Check the information that comes before the “@”, noting if it contains special and numeric characters. You can also use emails that offer anti-spam services, such as gmail, for example.
In addition, many scammers send fake boletos by correspondence, using personal data, which makes these boletos very similar to the real ones.
Fake boletos usually have spelling and typing errors, but there are other fields that you can pay attention to and do an extra check, such as the transferor's information, for example.
The transferor or beneficiary is the one who will receive the amount that will be paid. It can be either the issuer of the ticket or a payment institution. Remember that the slips always indicate the company's corporate name and never its trade name.
Also verify the authenticity of the beneficiary information; data such as CNPJ and address can be easily consulted on the internet. Take the opportunity to check if all the data provided correspond to those that the ticket presents.
Whenever possible, prefer to scan the barcode at the ATM or on your smartphone instead of typing the number. Fake boletos can have their numbering altered, but the barcode can be deformed or even remain intact. This way it is easier to detect if the barcode is unreadable and if the document has been tampered with.
If you find any discrepancies on your ticket or if you suspect the authenticity of the document, be sure to contact the billing issuer. This is one of the ways to avoid falling into scams. If the issuing institution cannot or does not know how to guarantee the authenticity of the document, do not make the payment for security reasons.