Greeks are being sent “penalty” SMS: phishing or a new shadow of Predator?

Phishing SMS messages are spreading in Greece under the guise of notices of fines. Amid the scandal Predator The question is no longer only technical, but also political.

SMS traps are spreading again in Greecesimulating government notifications about supposedly overdue fines. Messages arrive under the guise of a structure similar to gov.grand contain alarming phrases about late payments and rising charges. At first glance, it looks like ordinary phishing. But in a country that has experienced scandal Predatoreven a simple scam SMS quickly turns into a political issue.

The scheme looks simple and therefore dangerous. The recipient receives a message supposedly from GR GOV – a name that should remind you of the present gov.gr. The text refers to late payment violations and the accrual of additional amounts. Next to it is a link that you are asked to follow.

Official warnings about a similar scheme have already been published. Greek Ministry of Digital Governance previously reported on phishing SMS in which citizens are written about an allegedly unpaid fine for violating traffic rules and are asked to follow a link to check or pay. The agency emphasized: government agencies do not send SMS with a requirement to urgently follow a link and enter personal or bank information. Ministry of Digital Governance

A government agency issued a similar warning. AMNA: These messages imitate public services, use misleading language and unofficial addresses to steal personal or banking information from citizens. AMNA

Why does it work

Phishing logic is built on fear and haste. Man sees the word “fine”the threat of charges and exile. If the message arrives late in the evening, when attention is low, the risk of error becomes higher. This is not magic, but simple psychology: to scare, speed up, force you to press.

Some cybersecurity sites have already warned about a new SMS scam that appears to be coming in the same message thread as real notifications. gov.gr. According to CyberAlert.grin some cases, scammers write about an alleged traffic fine, and the link leads to a fake page where they ask for a car number, ID details and a bank card.

It is important to clarify: not every such SMS automatically infects the phone with spyware level Predator. Most often, such attacks are aimed at stealing card data, passwords, personal information or logins. But for the user, the result can still be devastating: money, accounts, documents, correspondence and digital identity become the prey of criminals.

Why do people remember Predator?

Comparison with Predator does not arise out of nowhere. Greece has already experienced a major spyware scandal, with journalists, politicians and businessmen alleging attempts to infect phones with spyware. In February 2026, a Greek court recognized four defendants associated with the company Intellexaguilty of illegal access to private data in the case Predatorgate. This was reported Reuters, Human Rights Watch And Amnesty International.

Amnesty International called the verdict a rare step towards accountability in the abuse of surveillance technologies. However, the scandal itself did not disappear from public memory: it involved journalists, opposition politicians, businessmen and questions about the role of government agencies.

This is why the new wave of decoy messages is perceived as more than just cyber fraud. In a normal situation, a citizen would see a suspicious SMS and think: “scammers”. In Greece today, many people ask a different question: “Who exactly is behind this?” Private criminal groups? Foreign services? Internal structures? Or several interests at once? There is no evidence for direct accusations, but the very atmosphere of suspicion already speaks of the state of trust in the authorities.

Power reaps mistrust

This is where the political part begins. If after the scandal Predator the state never gave society a comprehensive answer as to who was spying on journalists, politicians and businessmen and why, then any new digital attack is automatically read through these optics.

Government Kyriakos Mitsotakis can talk as much as he wants about cybersecurity, the digital state and the protection of citizens. But after the story with wiretapping and spyware, his words no longer lack the main thing – trust. And without trust, even a real warning about scammers sounds to part of society like an attempt to hide a deeper problem.

It is impossible to say without evidence that current SMS are sent by government services or structures associated with government. This would not be journalism, but fortune-telling with an accusatory slant. But something else can and should be said: the authorities themselves have created an environment in which such suspicions seem to people not like fantasy, but an acceptable version.

When the state is unable to convincingly close a surveillance case for years, when no one is fully responsible for the telephone numbers of journalists and the opposition in a political sense, when investigations get bogged down, and the government pretends that all this is “the past,” digital mistrust becomes the norm. And this is no longer a problem of just SMS. This is the problem of a regime that is afraid of losing control and is therefore perceived by society as a potential observer, not a protector.

Who benefits from panic?

It is beneficial for scammers to make people afraid. It is beneficial for the political system for society to get used to the idea that the telephone is no longer a personal space. In this sense, even a regular phishing attack contributes to a general atmosphere of fear.

If criminal groups are behind such messages, the state is obliged to quickly find them and publicly show the mechanism of the attack. If there are signs of a more complex operation linked to political goals, the public should receive answers even more so. Silence in such cases is not neutrality, but fertilizer for suspicion.

It is especially alarming if entrepreneurs, journalists and politicians actually receive such messages. These categories of people have already been at the center of a scandal Predator. Therefore, any new attempts to digitally access their devices should be reviewed not as petty fraud, but as a potential threat to political and information security.

What should recipients do?

Recipients of such messages should not click on links, enter card details, ID details, passwords or verification codes. Real government services need to be verified only through the official address gov.gr or through known channels of the relevant department.

If a message is suspicious, it is better to save it, take a screenshot and forward it to the competent authorities or cybersecurity specialists. If the link has already been opened and the data has been entered, you must immediately contact the bank, change the passwords and check the device.

The main rule is simple: the state should not require a citizen to urgently pay an unknown fine at 11:30 pm through a dubious SMS link. If the message is one of fear and haste, it is almost always a trap. Unfortunately, the digital age has given people not only convenience, but also the opportunity to be robbed in their pajamas.

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