HANFA warns of fake website impersonating CNB and e-Citizens
The site frozenspirety.info mimics the look of official portals and offers a fake 'National Financial Access Program', with a purported fund worth as much as two billion euros.
The site frozenspirety.info mimics the look of official portals and offers a fake 'National Financial Access Program', with a purported fund worth as much as two billion euros.
The Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) issued an urgent warning to citizens on Monday about a fraudulent website falsely presenting itself as the Croatian National Bank (CNB) and the e-Citizens portal. The domain in question, frozenspirety.info, convincingly imitates the visual identity of official state institutions to extract money from citizens.
The fake site promotes a so-called "National Financial Access Program (NFAP)", presented as an official government initiative. Citizens are invited to apply, with a minimum initial deposit of 250 euros required. To create an air of exclusivity and prompt quick action, the fraudulent ad claims that the number of applications is limited to 500 per county.
The scammers have also concocted a story about a "national guarantee fund" worth as much as two billion euros, allegedly backing the entire program. Such fabricated figures and appeals to the central bank's authority aim to instill trust in potential victims and convince them that this is a legitimate opportunity.
HANFA emphasizes that fake websites today can be highly sophisticated and nearly identical to the originals, including logos, names, colors, and other visual elements. The key difference lies in the web address.
"That's why it's important to check the website's URL. Official institution websites are hosted on their official domains, such as www.hnb.hr, www.gov.hr, and www.hanfa.hr," HANFA stated.
The regulatory agency urges anyone wanting to learn more about common financial scams and how to recognize them to visit their official page with current alerts.
