Macedonian police warn of phishing scams posing as Safe City traffic notices
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia has alerted the public to a surge in phishing attacks carried out through fake SMS messages, e‑mail, web pages, mobile apps and social‑media posts. The fraudulent messages appear to come from the Department of Motor Vehicles under the “Safe City” system and contain a link that redirects recipients to a counterfeit site where they are urged to pay a fine for an alleged traffic violation. Citizens are advised not to open suspicious links, not to share personal data such as bank‑card numbers, passwords or personal identifiers, to verify that official communications are sent from the sender “MVR‑SC”, include the vehicle registration number, and use a URL in the format https://safecountry.mvr.gov.mk. The Ministry urges the use of two‑factor authentication and reporting of any doubtful messages to the relevant authorities or banks. The Computer Crime sector continues active investigations and will prosecute the perpetrators.
Entities: Computer Crime sector · Computer Crime sector (MVR) · Department for Motor Vehicles (MVR) · Department of Motor Vehicles (MVR) · MVR‑SC (official sender) · Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs · Macedonian citizens · Ministry of Interior of North Macedonia · Safe City system
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [● 3 SOURCES] The Computer Crime sector of the Ministry continues active investigations and measures to detect and sanction the perpetrators. (All three articles)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The Ministry of Interior of North Macedonia reported a recent surge in phishing attacks via SMS, email, websites, mobile apps and social media. (All three articles)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The fraudulent messages claim to be issued by the Department for Motor Vehicles' 'Safe City' system. (All three articles)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The messages contain a fake link formatted as https://safecountry.mvr.gov.mk. (All three articles)
- [● 3 SOURCES] Recipients are urged to pay an alleged traffic violation through the fake link. (All three articles)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The Ministry advises citizens not to open suspicious links, not to share personal data, verify sender addresses, use two‑factor authentication and report suspicious messages. (All three articles)
- [● 3 SOURCES] Official SMS notifications for traffic violations must be sent by the sender code 'MVR‑SC'. (Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The SMS text must include the vehicle registration plate and a link in the format https://safecountry.mvr.gov.mk. (Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The fraudulent messages contain a link that directs citizens to pay for a fictitious traffic violation. (Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The Cybercrime Unit of the Ministry is actively investigating and taking measures to identify and punish the perpetrators. (Cybercrime Unit, Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia)
- [● 3 SOURCES] Phishing messages impersonate the Department of Motor Vehicles and are presented as notifications from the 'Safe City' system. (Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia)
- [● 3 SOURCES] The Ministry recommends using two‑factor authentication (2FA) to protect accounts. (Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia)