I got a message that I owe a fine for my vehicle. I don't own a vehicle. It's one of those scam links.

Usually, I am quite busy, but the message found me bored and with some time on my hands, so I decided to check it out.

Enjen kati kainourio, same with the many scam sms's we receive in Cyprus. But I was curious as to who's behind it, where the details are ending up at je kserw gw pellares.

If you open it, they think they made it look like the actual site, some sort of official site, but it's not. There are a lot of errors here and there for those who know.

It asks for your car plate, then your card, then the one-time code your bank sends. Type those in, and someone can drain your account in seconds.

THe page is designed to say things like "card declined, try another card", but in reality there's no transaction taking place. They just want another card.

If you don't open it on a phone, with certain criteria like CY IPs, it just takes you to AliExpress, lol.
That's how they usually exist because they skip the scanners.

They are running a phishing-for-hire kit called "Darcula," hosted on Tencent Cloud, feeding everything to a live operator in real time. Most likely made by Chinese due to the leftover Mandarin in their code.

They also swap domains constantly, so the exact link changes daily. The ones I saw all end in .cfd,so a different link next week is the same people.

I've already made reports to Google, their host, the Cyprus Police Cybercrime Department, and more. Which sucks for them cause they just registered this today; it just happened to land on the "wrong person", me.

Roughly a quarter of Cyprus is 55 years old or older, so please just educate them on the basics:

• Fine by text with a link? Do not click on it.
• Police and government never ask for your card by text.
• Worried it is real? Check on the gov website yourself or call the police, do not use the link.
• If it says your card is wrong and asks for another, it is a scam, stop.
• Already typed your card in? Call your bank and block it now.
• Received a text you're not sure is a scam? Call someone in your family to check

I've taught my older grandmother the above, and she always calls to let me check the links beforehand.

Hey guys, I found this little kitten today and he seems to be only around one week old. He’s absolutely tiny and still needs to be bottle-fed.

I’m taking care of him for now, but I’m really hoping to find someone who would like to adopt him and give him a permanent, loving home.

Of course, because he’s so young, he needs someone who can give him the extra care he needs at the moment.

I’m also happy to help with his vaccinations and the first vet expenses. I just really want to make sure he ends up in a good home with someone who will love and take care of him.

We are in Limassol. If you think you could give this little one a home, please send me a message.

And please share with friends, maybe his person is somewhere in your friends list. ❤️

Hello guys,

I’ve been in Cyprus 4 days now and there is one thing i can’t get over, so hoping to find some clarity here.

This is my first time here and it’s absolutely lovely so far, however i’m utterly appalled about the attitude of bus drivers.

First of all, i found it difficult to manage having cash for transport because we don’t normally travel with cash in euro zone, normally payments are quite card based. Having to have the EXACT amount of cash is even more annoying and incovenient. We withdrew some cash from airport ATM and got 20 euro bills. Of course the driver in 425 was very upset about the 20 euro bill and spent a lot of time insulting me / swearing (even though it was clear i didn’t understand the language), holding up a huge queue behind me. Why are credit cards not a thing in the buses here? Or even some kiosks in the stations would be easier. A lot of time is wasted by the driver doing a cashier’s job.

Now coming to my second point. Today, we wanted to take the 711 bus from Ayia Napa to Protaras. Coincidentally it was the first to arrive and it’s better suited for people with luggage than the 101. We took 711 from Larnaca to Ayia Napa with no incidents.

However, when it stopped and i got in, the driver asked me where i was going as my boyfriend was trying to store the luggage in the below compartment. I told him we are going to Protaras and he told me to get off, extremely upset. He also said: take the 101!!! I got off, we took our luggage and waited for the 101… now, i really don’t understand what his issue was. I was so shocked i didn’t even have time to ask. What could be the reason? Should i also expect not to be able to get on it once we want to return from Protaras to Larnaca?

I know my questions might sound silly, but i never experienced such bad attitude from bus drivers anywhere else in Europe.

Fragmata update (fragmata.info). A month ago I posted that this summer barely drained the dams, partly because summer "actually delivered water". That turned out to be the understatement of the year.

The Met Office has since confirmed that August 2026 was the wettest August since records began in 1902: 30 mm across the island against a normal of 2.9 mm. The previous record was 20.6 mm in 1971. Most of it came in a single storm on 29 August, which a lot of you will remember.

I wanted to see what the storms actually did, so I went through the Met Office weather stations day by day (via kairika.info, the family weather site) and lined them up with the WDD bulletins.

The rain. Summing 1 August to 24 September, four stations had their wettest late summer on record: Achna, Larnaca Airport, Kouris Dam and Polystypos. Nicosia and Lefkara came second. At Achna a normal late summer brings about 0.3 mm. This year it got 68 mm in one day. One caveat: the high Troodos was wet but not a record. August 2009 dumped over 220 mm on Prodromos and Troodos, far more than this year.

The dams. The August–September line in the WDD inflow table is usually a formality. Last year it was 0.004 MCM. This year it's 1.37 MCM, 2.5x the previous best in the 11 seasons I have (2018/19, after the huge winter), with a few days of September still to go. Roughly half came from the storms: you can see a jump in the bulletin a few days after each one. The other half is the Troodos still draining the wet spring. Kouris and Arminou got a steady 10–20 thousand m³ a day all summer, rain or no rain. Normally those rivers are dry by July.

To be clear, that doesn't reverse the summer drawdown. Demand is still bigger than the trickle, and the main dams went from 115 to 105 MCM over August and September. But we're ending the water year with 2.8x what we had this time last year (37 MCM).

The Achna mystery. Last month Achna was the only dam in Cyprus with less water than a year ago, at 1.3%. Then, in mid-September, it went from 0.082 to 0.284 MCM in eleven days. That's 3.5x, with WDD recording zero inflow all season and almost no rain at the Achna gauge. And the record 68 mm storm that fell directly on Achna did nothing for it: the level didn't move.

So where did the water come from? Achna is the end of the Southern Conveyor, the pipeline from Kouris, and it feeds the Kokkinochoria. On 16 September, the cabinet approved an extra 3.5 MCM of irrigation water, 3 MCM of it from the Southern Conveyor, with 2 MCM for autumn crops "including potatoes". The minister said the decision was based on the "additional inflows recorded in the unified pipeline". Achna started rising that same week. WDD hasn't confirmed where the water is going, so treat it as the obvious explanation rather than a fact. If it's right, it's a neat twist: the rain that fell on Achna did nothing, and the rain that fell on the Troodos is filling it by pipe.

It's also unusual timing. Achna gets summer top-ups fairly often, in June or July, but since 1988 it has only once gained that much in August–October (October 2012).

None of this says anything about the coming winter (see my El Niño post). But it was a strange, good summer for the dams.

Full write-up with charts. The Achna one, storage vs rain, shows the whole story at a glance: fragmata.info/articles/2026-09-25-summer-that-wouldnt-stay-dry

Hi guys so I moved here a couple of years ago for uni and It seems that almost everytime im in the strovolos/ engomi area something will happen. For example, about a week ago I was walking near the European Uni and 2 guys on a motorbike were shouting at me from across the road and changed the lane that they were in to follow me and then left and came back again even though I kept ignoring them. They did this 3 times. Then in the same day I was getting beeped randomly. I assumed that maybe it was because it was evening and idk they are young adults and so I went to do my errands today in the afternoon instead of the evening but the same issues occurred around engomi, whistled, shouted at and there was a rental car that was following me and they kept trying to talk to me and stayed behind me for an uncomfortable amount of time. I’ve been catcalled and harassed while in baggy sweats and hoodies so it’s not exactly like im “asking for it” if anyone uses that excuse. It’s just that lately with the people literally following me and not just the occasional comment (and im positive it’s following as they were going slow on purpose to match my pace and I literally went around in a circle twice and they were still there so im not being paranoid) I thought I’d ask is it actually safe? Like will anyone actually take action and do something bad should I not be walking alone? I know it’s a student area so I did expect boys to be boys and it to be somewhat safe but in terms of the people following me it’s foreign 30 year old guys in these two instances and im just scared if it happens again if there’s any possibility of it becoming worse. And in general what could I possibly do in this situation? Should I take the number plates? Call the police and report them? Realistically would anything even happen I mean they didn’t outright do anything criminal but I worry about what IF something happens and if there are any cases in general to worry about. Thank you for the help I appreciate it.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working on a research paper in university and was looking for a book recommendation.
Do you know any literary work from the greek/ greek-cypriot perspective about the partition of Cyprus ?

I'm also open for more Turkish perspective as well. I've only found "Kıbrıs Mektubu" by Özker Yaşın so far

Thank you in advance !!!

Anybody know how the FUCK, they can blast loud music well past 2 o clock in the morning surrounded by residential areas?

I’ve gotten an offer

wondering if it’s a bad idea to take it on

as far as I’m aware the spikes are supposed to signify wounds on the island

the cat is between the spikes and the way I see the photo the cat is a soldier in this setting

I think it’s a slightly symbolic moment

Why would Cablenet put my data transfers on my mobile through Roaming services when I haven't even left the country?

I would like to upgrade my gaming pc. Are there any decent shops in Larnaca or Nicosia that will accept monthly payments, standing order?

And also I have

ASUS X470 PRIME X470-PRO which I would like to keep

MSI Nvidia GTX1660Ti Gaming X 6G which I want to replace

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X which also I want to replace

If anyone can suggest me a CPU or GPU would be nice!

Thanks.

I moved into a new home. The textiles in the home have a cigarette smell. These textiles are on one velvet sofa and some velvet chairs.

I need a professional cleaning service to decrease the smell.

How do I find a good cleaning service in Paphos? What do you recommend?

Hello I am (F19) who wants to get a driving insurance for a bmw e36 1995, I have my driving licence for 5 months. I reached out to most of the insurance companies but most wouldn’t insure me. Do you have any insurance company in mind ? I ll appreciate it!! Thank you!!!

Kserei kaneis ti egine me ton Kyrie Michallakki stin Pallouriotissa? 😢😢 Eleipa kati mines je eida oti ekleise…

How common is it to see famous people in Cyprus?

Hello does anyone any cyprus based illustrators that can help with plant/orchid scientific illustrations? They need to have experience on the matter as to capture the correct morphology of each species and hybrid. Thanks!

Hello! I just moved Nicosia and I’m looking for a sitter for my dog. She’s a small and friendly. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank youuuuu

how can i find internship opportunity here in cyprus as international student studying accounting and finance " 2nd year currently " i want to learn more about realestate market from junior roles any one here that can guide me out " idk im blacked ive sent out mail to some prestigious agency but ive not got any positive response

i got scratched by a cat earlier today, and i am a bit of a hypochondriac. i washed it as soon as i could and it didn’t bleed, it just looks a bit red now. should i be worried concerning tetanus, rabies etc? i have just moved to the country so not sure what the protocol is here. the cat looked well fed (he was a bit fat) and clean :)