ATHENS – The Hellenic Police on Friday issued an announcement warning the public to beware a new type of scam that aims to extract sensitive personal data, financial information and passwords over the telephone, via recorded messages impersonating police authorities.

Based on reports submitted to the cybercrime division, the calls are made from landlines and mobiles and use a recorded message in either English or Greek. The message instructs the recipient to follow specific steps in order to be informed about supposed criminal charges pending against them.

The police advise the public to record the telephone number from which the call is made, to be especially cautious in answering, to not call back a number given via a voice message, to avoid engaging with anyone that calls and asks for sensitive information and to never reveal their e-banking or card details, pin numbers or passwords.