Fraudsters steal thousands of euros using fake CSDD website

Latvia's State Police has received reports from three victims over the past two days who fell prey to online fraud. The victims are two residents of Liepāja and one resident of Kuldīga.

In all three cases, the victims were searching for the website of CSDD, the state road traffic safety directorate, using Google, and ended up on a fake site instead. Police believe the victims most likely clicked on paid advertisements that appeared in search results disguised as the official CSDD homepage but were actually created by the scammers.

Thousands of euros lost

As a result of the scam, one Liepāja woman lost 340 euros from her bank account, a Liepāja man lost 2,500 euros, and a Kuldīga woman lost 1,500 euros. Criminal proceedings have been launched in connection with all three cases.

Police advice

The State Police is urging residents to stay alert and check a link's web address before clicking on it, noting that even a single extra or missing character can be a sign of a fraudulent site. Authorities recommend never entering banking or personal data unless fully certain the site is safe, and to use only official government websites. In case of doubt, police advise calling a family member before a scammer gets the chance to do so.