The Social Security Institute (ISS) reported that it “reactivated the IBAN registration and change functionality in Social Security Directo,” after the service was suspended for around two weeks.
The institute directed by Octávio de Oliveira states that “reactivated the registration and IBAN change functionality in Social Security Directafter the temporary suspension of the service,” reads the statement, published on Friday on the ISS website.
On October 2, Social Security had reported that, following a fraud on Social Security Direct, it had “immediately inhibited and blocked the insertion/change of the IBAN on this platform.” Such as, During the last two weeks, any IBAN change could only be made in person.
The service has already been reactivated and “Social Security has implemented new solutions that strengthen security in the process of inserting or changing the IBAN”, in order to “guarantee greater protection and security for the beneficiaries”, the statement also reads.
For this reason, the institute recommends that beneficiaries confirm “if the registered IBAN corresponds to what is expected”, and “in this case, no intervention will be necessary“.
If you want to re-register or change your IBAN with Social Security Direct, in the menu you have to access your profile, then go to your bank account and register your IBAN there. You must also enter proof of ownership of the bank account and wait for the competent services to validate the IBAN, since the “IBAN will not be valid immediately.”
“The owner will be notified in the ‘Messages’ area of Social Security Direct after validation of the process by the Social Security services,” explains the institute.
According to Social Security, This is still a “temporary solution”while a solution for current account ownership is not available.”
For Lusa, the Social Security Institute had confirmed, at the beginning of October, the existence of around 90 fraud situations related to the change of IBAN in Direct Social Security without intervention of the beneficiaries, estimating an impact of 60 thousand euros.
In recent times, scams in the name of public institutions such as Social Security or the Tax Agency have been recurrent. The last alert published on the ISS website was issued last Wednesday and warned “of the existence of unauthorized websites that claim to provide consulting services and other services related to the Social Security Identification Number (NISS) in Portugal”.
Source: Observadora
