Polish police warn of rising smishing scams as fraud case leads to 8‑year sentence

The Powiat Consumer Ombudsman, together with the Kielce provincial police, has issued a warning about a surge in smishing attacks that impersonate utility providers, banks and other trusted services. Since the start of the year, fraudsters have extracted more than 4 million złoty from residents of the Świętokrzyskie region by sending deceptive SMS messages that link to counterfeit login pages or request personal data.

In a related case, the Sochaczew district police, acting on a bank report, charged a 21‑year‑old Ukrainian citizen with fraud after he posed as a bank employee and convinced a woman to disclose an authorization code, resulting in a near‑20,000‑złoty transfer to an account he opened. The suspect faces up to eight years in prison, and police urge the public to verify any unexpected payment requests directly with the relevant service provider before responding.