The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns: beware of false phone calls!
09.08.2021
Recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been receiving signals about individuals pretending to be employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland or its foreign posts in order to force the caller to perform certain actions, in particular to transfer money. During the phone call, the fraudsters usually inform the caller that he or she has failed to comply with certain procedures, as well as that he or she has provided incomplete or false data in the forms to be filled in, which allegedly entails legal consequences.
We would like to clarify that fraudsters use the so-called spoofing, which consists in impersonating any telephone number - in this case the numbers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This activity is completely independent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and does not mean that any IT security of the Ministry has been breached. Calling the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (+48 22 523 90 00)
and the Infoline of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Citizens (+48 22 250 01 16) to obtain information is still safe.
Fraudsters may demand personal data as well as persuade to make money transfers of a certain amount through an international financial services company in order for the caller to avoid severe legal consequences.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not contact Polish citizens or foreigners staying in Poland in such matters and does not ask for personal details over the phone and does not require any money to be transferred.
In such cases we appeal to you to refrain from taking any action requested by a person claiming to be an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in particular to refrain from giving your personal details and from making any money transfers. Every case of fraud should be reported to the nearest police station and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be informed by e-mail at rzecznik@msz.gov.pl.
Please be informed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports all fraud attempts to the relevant law enforcement authorities.