Day: 30 January 2024

Monaco residents are being warned about a surge in email scams flooding their inboxes. The emails, originating from various sources and often slipping past spam filters, are part of a sophisticated phishing campaign aimed at deceiving unsuspecting victims.

According to authorities, the malicious emails are clumsily composed, claiming recipients are implicated in legal proceedings and urging them to open attached PDF documents. The fraudulent summons alleges involvement in “criminal charges related to sexual misconduct,” adding a sense of urgency and intimidation to the message.

Monaco’s government has issued a series of guidelines to help residents identify and avoid falling victim to these scams. Recipients are advised against responding to the sender, refraining from opening any attached documents, and promptly reporting suspicious emails to cyber@gouv.mc. Additionally, citizens are encouraged to mark such emails as spam and delete them permanently to prevent any further interaction.

Officials emphasise that no legitimate institution in Monaco communicates such matters via email. Government services exclusively use email addresses ending with @gouv.mc and recipients should verify the sender’s email address carefully for authenticity.

Join the Monaco Life community – sign up for the Monaco Life newsletter, and follow us on Threads, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Tik Tok.  

Photo source: Monaco Government 

Following reports of a distressing incident linked to the viral ‘scarf game’ that has become infamous on TikTok, Monaco’s teachers’ union has called for more support to be given to the Collège Charles-III on the Avenue de l’Annonciade. 

On 26th January, a 14-year-old student was reportedly found unconscious on the fifth floor of the Collège Charles-III. According to the Monaco Matin, the student has been attempting to recreate the dangerous ‘scarf game’ stunt, in which a person strangles themself until the point of passing out, that has been circulated widely on TikTok and was the cause of the death of a 16-year-old in France last year. The student was swiftly taken to the Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace, reports the newspaper, adding that an investigation has been launched by the Monaco Police Department. 

In the days after the worrying incident, Monaco’s teachers’ union is believed to have asked the Department of National Education, Youth and Sports (DENJS) for assistance in bringing in more staff so as to ensure the better supervision of pupils at the school.  

According to the Monaco Matin, there are just 23 qualified “supervisors” working at the school, where there are more than 1,100 students enrolled. The newspaper also reports that the union had already contacted the DENJS regarding concerns about the school’s “security lapses” a year before the recent incident.  

“We are facing an increase in physical and verbal threats in colleges,” a representative for the union is quoted as saying in the newspaper, before stressing further worries about the growing issue of inadequate student safety at the school and the normalisation of violence among peers. “Teenagers insult and hit each other gratuitously, push each other, push each other down the stairs… For them, it’s a game and they absolutely do not realise the scope of their actions.”

No official comment has yet been made by the DENJS or the Monaco Government.

Join the Monaco Life community – sign up for the Monaco Life newsletter, and follow us on Threads, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Tik Tok. 

Photo source: Solen Feyissa, Unsplash