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CRIME

A new SMS scam is targeting Vipps users in Norway

Many Vipps users have recently received text messages apparently sent from Vipps, with a prompt to click on a link. Vipps warns users that this is a scam.

Hacker
Vipps never asks customers to share sensitive information by email or SMS. Photo by Khusen Rustamov / Pixabay

Many Vipps users received the following SMS message this weekend, according to the newspaper Nettavisen.

“Your Vipps ID is temporarily suspended. To activate your account, you must update your information.” In addition, the SMS asked Vipps users to click on a link.

If you got such a message, don’t click on the link – it’s a scam, Vipps’ communications manager Caroline Lunde warns.

“Unfortunately, this often happens with brands that are known and loved by many, many people, such as DnB, Posten, IKEA, Telenor, and others,” Lunde wrote in an email.

Widely used app

Over 4.3 million Norwegians have downloaded the Vipps app. But it is not known how many people have received the message from fraudsters.

Lunde accentuated that Vipps never asks customers to share sensitive information by email or SMS and asked people to be extra attentive and check the sender’s email address or number.

“A fraudster often goes to great lengths to make the SMS or email look credible, but if you study the sender’s address or contact information, you can often discover that the message does not actually come from Vipps,” she said.

“If you have any doubts, please go to the Vipps app. There we communicate directly and securely with our users, and your information is securely stored. Do not send sensitive information via email or SMS to anyone you do not know,” she concluded.

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OSLO

Norwegian prosecutor wants maximum sentence for Oslo Pride shooter

Norway's public prosecutor on Tuesday asked that the maximum penalty of potentially life behind bars be handed down to the alleged perpetrator of the fatal shooting at Oslo's 2022 Pride festival.

Norwegian prosecutor wants maximum sentence for Oslo Pride shooter

Zaniar Matapour, a 44-year-old Norwegian of Iranian origin, has been on trial since mid-March and is accused of an “aggravated act of terror”.

Matapour is accused of opening fire outside two bars in central Oslo, including the gay club London Pub, on the night of June 25th, just hours before the Oslo Pride Parade was to be held.

Two men, aged 54 and 60, were killed and nine others were wounded.

“There is no reason as to why the maximum sentence cannot be used in a case like this,” prosecutor Aud Kinsarvik Gravas said.

The maximum sentence is 30 years but can be extended indefinitely.

“He has shown no remorse or reflection. We have seen no change in him” over the last two years, Kinsarvik Gravas said.

Matapour, who was restrained by passersby after the shooting, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and has never revealed his motives. He pleaded not guilty.

Psychiatric experts have been divided over his mental health, and thereby his legal responsibility, but the public prosecutor deemed him criminally responsible at the time of the events and that he deliberately targeted the gay community.

The sentence sought against him, which includes a minimum of 20 years, would in practice keep him in detention for as long as he is deemed a danger to society.

The alleged mastermind behind the attack, Arfan Bhatti, a 46-year-old Islamist well-known in Norway, was extradited on May 3rd from Pakistan, where he had taken up residence before the shooting.

He will be tried at a later date.

The final part of the trial, due to last until Thursday, will be devoted to the defence case.

A verdict is not expected for several weeks.

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