Attackers make phone calls, write in instant messengers, send Viber and SMS messages and lure them to websites. Sometimes they even advertise fraudulent applications related to Internet banking or online shopping.
The article will describe the main scenarios of criminals and tell you how to avoid deception.
Your relative is in trouble!
Fraudsters play the role of guards or bank employees. They demand to urgently pay a deposit for a relative or transfer payment for a fine or a loan.
Usually, they call too early or at night - when the person is as relaxed as possible.
A popular option is Viber or an SMS message asking you to transfer some money to a specified account. The sender's name is simple and universal: mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister...
What to do: Before transferring money, call a relative. If it doesn't respond, look for other options to test the request. Do not trust messengers - the smartphone could be stolen.
If you can, pretend that you didn’t understand anything and agree to the terms of the scammers. Come up with a reason to stop communicating for a while (for example, it’s commonplace to go to the toilet). Call the police and report fraudulent activities - give law enforcement officers as much information about the attackers as possible.
But it's not a real bank!
Fraudsters fake websites, accounts, logins and phone numbers. Idea: to give the impression that you are communicating with a certain company or bank. Purpose: to learn your personal data.
Attackers offer: to restore access to the card; close the old loan (which, it would seem, was forgotten) to avoid a fine.
Fake sites, one to one similar to the official ones, steal logins and passwords. Even in a regular SMS there may be a link to a fraudulent site.
Sometimes a Viber message prompts you to call back a specific number. Then a dummy person under the guise of a company manager or a bank employee tries to find out information about the payment card.
Fraudsters record phrases in the voice of a female robot, which is one to one similar to a real bank bot. Sometimes they become liars former employees jar. They know the order of work and the type of messages, so they create perfect fakes.
What to do: Employees of real companies or banks never ask for a password or card details (number, PIN, expiration date, CVC2 / CVV2). Companies and banks never send informational messages from unknown or random numbers. If you have been informed about the blocking of the card, call the number indicated on its back or contact the bank's official phone number. If you did not have time to react and provided personal information, block the card as soon as possible and change passwords.
You have won a Mercedes!
Fraudsters send messages about winnings. Big. Nice. Win! With a small condition - you first need to transfer money for shipping, tax or insurance.
Mobile operator confirmation
Fraudsters send messages or call, and under the guise of a mobile operator, they offer to enter a certain code. For example, to continue scheduled maintenance of the SIM card. If a person enters the code, money is deducted from her account.
What to do: Obviously - never use codes you don't know or send them to random numbers.
This is no longer your SIM card
Fraudsters top up a person's account with a small amount. Then they call from different numbers and wait for the owner to call back.
After some time, they turn to the mobile operator and ask to restore the “lost” SIM card. Usually, for this you need to name the amount and date of the last replenishment and the last numbers that were dialed from the card.
The stolen "Simka" and the message base greatly simplifies access to payment systems.
What to do: DO NOT call back unknown numbers. DO NOT tie up bank cards to a phone number. Spread the number less payment card and never say which phone number she is attached to.
If possible, switch to contract service - then the SIM card will be tied to passport data.
The money is credited, honestly!
If you receive a money transfer, an attacker can send a fake SMS as a "confirmation" about the transfer of money.
What to do: Do not trust SMS - check the account through Internet banking or at a branch.
Oops, what is that link?
Fraudsters create a lot of viruses and malicious applications. To activate them, just follow the link or even just watch the “video file”. Activation can block a smartphone (or computer) or transfer personal data to thieves without the knowledge of the owner.
A message with a virus can also come from a well-known person. This happens due to chain hacking:
- your friend's friend caught the virus;
- a broken gadget secretly sent out messages;
- your friend opened the links;
- Now the virus has sent a link to you.
What to do: Do not open suspicious files - no matter who they come from. If you need to know what came, check with the account owner.
Never follow a shortened link on Twitter.
Be careful when uploading videos, music or documents online.
The child is dying!
Unfortunately, scammers are not limited by absolutely any moral principles. You may receive a message asking you to help a terminally ill child. The money sent will go to the attacker's account - even if the sick baby really exists.
What to do: First, find information about the fund that collects money. Find the organization's profit and loss data. Contact the patient's relatives and ask for the correct bills for help.
The New Cryptocurrency of Millionaires!
The cryptocurrency direction is relatively “young” and poorly researched. It's very hard to give good advice. We simply suggest that you think twice and thrice check before investing in an ICO with magical super profits.
Fraudsters are constantly coming up with something new, but the basic principles remain the same:
- Urgency - you need to take a certain action or transfer information without delay.
- Emotional load, criticality of the situation - if you do not fulfill a certain requirement, it will be very, very bad.
- Golden mountains - if you take a certain action or transfer information, you will immediately receive huge benefits.
- Muddy slippery communications - hidden phone numbers, fictitious positions, sites without content, "voices" without a name and surname.
If you suspect a person of fraud, ask more questions, require justification and confirmation of each action. Ask for the Unexpected - Attackers carefully craft scenarios and get lost when things don't go according to plan.
If you are nevertheless deceived, save as much information as possible and pass it on to the police.
Use complex: at least 9 characters; a mixture of numbers with uppercase and lowercase letters.
Do not disclose passwords, PIN-code, expiration date and data from the reverse side of the payment card to anyone.
Use an antivirus!
At all times there have been scammers in the world: merchants of miracle goods who get rid of all troubles and miracle doctors who get rid of all diseases and all kinds of psychics who remove any damage and the evil eye, etc. It has come to the internet...
Modern Internet scammers act in all sorts of ways, as far as imagination and arrogance are enough. Each of them develops its own individual scheme to withdraw money from the population. But such creativity has common features. Consider what needs to be done to don't fall for scammers.
The first signs that they want to deceive you:
- the offer letter came to you in the form of spam;
- you are promised high incomes/earnings/salary;
- while nothing special needs to be done;
- sometimes you are not even asked for proof of qualification;
- you are asked to send the Nth amount of money for detailed information or for alleged postage;
- SMS payment to a short number;
- entry fee required;
- certificates exposed for viewing cannot be seen.
Here are typical examples:
1. Typing at home: imaginary employers colorfully describe all the benefits of working with them, exalt themselves to the skies, assure you of the most perfect respect for you and their unsurpassed honesty. After laudatory chants addressed to them, they finally start talking about the security deposit. Usually it takes 100-300 rubles, sometimes more or less, but money theme is always present. This is explained by the fact that they allegedly can suffer from an irresponsible performer. Therefore, they need to be sure to make sure. And after the work is fully completed, the entire amount earned will instantly appear on the employee’s account along with a deposit. But, unfortunately, everything is so beautiful only in words, but in reality - if your money flows anywhere, then only into the pockets of scammers.
2. Offer to buy a "miracle" technique: it is rather difficult to blame anyone in such a situation, since you were not deceived, but actually sent the promised materials. And it did not work solely because you did something wrong. And in the arsenal of the authors there are always several videos with enthusiastic owners of the technique, who succeeded.
3. Magic Wallets: this is a fairly old, but still very common type of Internet fraud, fed on the traditional love of Russians for freebies. You are given the opportunity to transfer a certain amount of money to some Webmoney or Yandex Money electronic wallet, which will double (triple) within a few minutes (hours) and return to yours. Of course, only the first part works in this scheme, and you lose your hard-earned money. A simple magic wallet discredited itself rather quickly, so it is being improved all the time. How can there be suggestions to try on small amounts, which can really double, until the greed of the experimenter reaches certain limits and he sends a larger amount, in a word, the fraudulent thought does not stand still and the business is constantly evolving.
4. Favorable currency exchange: the essence of this method lies in the fact that you are offered a “profitable” exchange of the currency of one payment system on the other, while gaining a few percent, which, with multiple exchanges, can promise a decent income. For these purposes, scammers create websites that imitate an exchange office, into which they lure a sucker to make “profitable” transactions. It is easy to guess that there will not be so many operations with the client's amount, after the first transfer, it no longer belongs to him.
5. Beggars on the net: everything is very simple here. Usually people ask for a small amount of money, explaining the reason for their need or need for them. Prepositions can be completely different, they come up with who is into what much. From urgent surgery needed by a child to buying food for a dog. The amounts are often miserable, because there are more chances to receive a “donation”, to collect money from a larger number of people. Usually used to send letters (spam) to the e-mail of the victims. There are, of course, real cases when people really need help. But then they will not send spam in any way, but will seek help from famous individuals or companies. With this method, significant amounts of money can be collected, in contrast to colleagues sitting in passages and at churches, since the Internet makes it possible to contact a huge number of people.
To avoid falling into the hands of scammers:
- do not send SMS to short numbers or do it very carefully by checking the true cost of SMS;
- surf the net with a quality antivirus program;
- try to make complex passwords on sites where important information and money are stored;
- store passwords in an inaccessible place, or use special password managers;
- do not join companies that require you to pay first;
- do not try to make money on various scams, such as casinos, bookmakers;
- before you buy something on an unknown site, check the full information about it, look for reviews, read the forums. The same applies to goods purchased online;
- check sites for availability contact numbers, the presence of a personal certificate of the Webmoney seller;
- read reviews of other network users about this company, site or individual. Just type in the name of the site and the word "reviews". Learn a lot of interesting and useful things.
In this article, I want to give you some recommendations on Internet security issues.
When using the Internet, we must always take precautions, both online and offline, by following some rules.
Personal information
When sending personal information about yourself, including on forums, chats, shops, and leaving, be careful. In many cases, the information you post on the sites will be there permanently. Therefore, try not to post personal information on the site (telephone numbers, address, credit card and passwords). Before disclosing personal data about third parties, you must obtain their permission to do so.
Information about your exact location
Try to post your details (address, place of work, etc.) so that they are not easily accessible.
Publicity
You want to book a hotel and are looking for a suitable one on the booking service websites. Prices for the option you like on your dates are kept in the region of 45,000–50,000 rubles. You return to the search results page and get to a group on social networks, a forum or, less often, a site where the price for the same hotel is 15,000 rubles."Wow! This is what I did well.”- you think.
See the booking conditions: they work on a prepaid basis, but "people with a reputation can also postpaid." Of course, you have a good reputation and you will pay for the room at the front desk (no matter how). Often, in such ads, the conditions are slightly less attractive: payment for the reservation after confirmation at the hotel, free cancellation at any time.
You don’t feel the catch - you don’t have to pay right away. You book a room, receive a voucher by mail, call the hotel. They tell you that there is a reservation in your name, everything is fine, you pay for the room with peace of mind. Meanwhile, your money is sent to attackers.
How scammers operate a scam
The scammer receives your booking request and contacts the hotel. To the administrator, he may introduce himself as your assistant, secretary, or just a friend. Then he calls your personal data, room category and pays the real cost of the reservation from a stolen bank card. The hotel sends you a confirmation, and the attacker is already waiting for your money for the room to fall on his card. If you are sending a payment to a card- this is not so bad, you can try to return it, but if scammers use online wallet - you can say goodbye to money.
Why scammers are impossible to catch
It is impossible to identify scammers: the legal information of fake services is invalid, the accounts are fake, and the numbers are registered to fake people. In addition, scammers do not risk their money, and you can create new groups in social networks and websites at least every day.
What do you personally lose?
The scam may not surface: you will arrive at the hotel and enjoy your vacation without ever knowing about the fraudulent scheme. But another scenario is most likely: the cardholder will challenge the legality money transfer at the bank, the bank will contact the hotel and request information on this transaction. The hotel will most likely not want to incur losses and will cancel the booking. This means that you run the risk of receiving a cancellation notice at the last moment or already arriving at the hotel.
It is almost impossible to return the money transferred to the electronic wallet- attackers quickly cover their tracks. If you sent money to the card- there is a chance, so immediately contact the bank and ask to cancel the transfer.
How not to fall for the bait of intruders
- Use proven booking services. Such services have a website, reviews, “live” pages in social networks with a large number of subscribers.
- Check if the service has a support service. If not- this is a serious call. At the same time, support phones can be fake and imitate a call center, so evaluate the site on other points as well.
- Beware if payment for the reservation is possible only through an electronic wallet or money must be transferred to a bank card. With a high probability, you got on a fake service.
- Be careful with prices below market prices by three or more times. Discounts on rooms do occur: this happens when the booking service works with a large number of suppliers and can provide offers slightly more profitable than those of competitors. If the price still confuses you, call the support service. Specialists will either explain why the prices for rooms in this hotel are such, or they will find and correct the error.
When a room is sold by intruders, attractive conditions are added to the low price: free cancellation right before the day of arrival and payment after confirmation. If you came across such an offer in a group of social networks, on a website or forum that did not pass the check on the four points above, most likely you fell for scammers.
The most common types of fraud:
1. SMS message
1) An SMS message comes to your phone from an unknown number with the text: “Mom (dad)! I have a problem's. I can not talk right now. Urgently put, please, 950 rubles on this number. I'll explain everything later."
If you received such an SMS message, then you do not need to immediately run to the payment terminal and transfer the required amount to the specified number. Call your child immediately and find out if he is okay. Well, if it so happened that you fell for the bait of scammers, immediately call the police.
2) An SMS message is sent to your phone from an unknown number, which says that your bank card blocked. Then you get a call from a stranger who introduces himself as the bank's head of security and says that the card can be unblocked, and all that is needed is an ATM. Since people do not want to sit in long lines or go to the main office of the bank, they agree with the attacker's proposal. When you approach the ATM, the scammer tells you what card transactions you need to make. As a result, without suspecting it, you translate your cash at the expense of the criminal. So a 60-year-old resident of the city of Volzhsky lost 44 thousand rubles. Performing the transactions indicated by the fraudster with the card, he transferred all his savings.
To avoid such a situation, having received a similar SMS message, call immediately by phone hotline the bank number indicated on the back of your plastic card. The call throughout Russia will be free. So, you will check the accuracy of the information indicated in the SMS and secure your savings.
2. A relative got into an accident
An unknown person calls you on the phone. Posing as a police officer, a stranger reports that your close relative has hit a person or got into an accident. In order to “solve the issue” of not initiating a criminal case against him, the caller offers to help him: put money on a phone number through a payment terminal or give it personally. The amounts vary from 5 to several tens of thousands of rubles. Fraudsters take advantage of the fact that you are in a state of stress and panic and cannot adequately and objectively assess the situation. They don't give you time to think.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, first of all, do not panic from what you hear. Ask a relative to answer the phone so you can talk to them and ask personal questions. Criminals are good actors, but they do not have information about their personal lives. And if the caller offers to pick up the money personally, agree. Call the police right away. With this act, you will help the operatives to detain intruders and prevent similar cases of deceiving citizens.
So a 66-year-old pensioner living in the Krasnooktyabrsky district lost 21 thousand rubles, believing the criminals who called her on the city number late at night and said that her son had been in an accident.
3. "Exchange" of money
Elderly people are the most common victims of this type of fraud. Attackers often take advantage of the gullibility, naivety and defenselessness of the elderly. The reasons for deception come up with a variety of things: they pretend to be sellers of honey, clothes and medicines; ask to change a large banknote; pretend to be employees of the mountains. gas and report that you allegedly overpaid for public Utilities; they introduce themselves as employees of an organization that helps pensioners, and they say that a default will happen in our country soon, money will depreciate, and food shortages will come, etc. ".
This is a joke money, which is very similar to the real one. It is used by children for their games, adults as a bookmark for book pages, etc. If you look closely, you will see that there are a number of differences between the comic and real bills. Be careful! Consider money carefully before taking it from strangers. Be sure to ask all employees of state and municipal organizations who want to come to your house to show service certificates. best of all, don't open the door to suspicious strangers at all.
So an 80-year-old pensioner from the Kirovsky district lost 4,500 thousand rubles, giving "change" to the false workers of the mountains. gas that came to his house in order to return 500 rubles, which grandfather allegedly overpaid for gas. Instead of a banknote worth 5 thousand rubles, the scammers gave the old man a banknote from the Bank of Pranks.
4. Removal of damage, evil eye, divination and more. others
3-4 women of gypsy appearance come up to you on the street and begin to reveal the terrible “truth” to you: the child will soon fall ill, the husband (wife) is cheating on you, death or a serious illness awaits you in the near future, etc. You only have one. It doesn't matter which of the above reasons she chooses, the main thing is to capture your attention. If they stopped, then they became a potential victim of street scammers. Then she begins to predict the future, offers to remove the damage, the evil eye or the “crown of celibacy”, while the rest of the women surround and form a kind of ring around you. While your attention is riveted on the “soothsayer”, it doesn’t cost them anything to clean your pockets, bag and purse, and also some malefactors ask you to “gild your pen” in payment for “fortune telling” and deprive you of jewelry.
Never trust street fortune tellers! If you find yourself in a similar situation, and they approach you on the street with an offer to "tell fortunes", in no case do not agree. Keep going in the direction you need, no matter what curses they shout at you, do not stop and do not start a conversation. If you do not pay attention to such offers, scammers will quickly lose interest. Well, if you already feel that you have fallen under the influence of street clairvoyants, immediately call the police. Frightened by responsibility, the "fortunetellers" will immediately fall behind.
5. False relatives
An unfamiliar girl (a young man) approaches you on the street and introduces herself as a distant relative who recently arrived from the village. These scammers are very good psychologists. They build the conversation in such a way that you do not even notice how you yourself answer your own questions. Telling how things are with family members in the province, the girl (young man) unobtrusively follows you to your home. There, showing hospitality, you will feed and water your “relative”. Then she will begin to tell the story of how long and unsuccessfully she looked for your address or how she recently arrived in Volgograd and how difficult it is to live in big city while still learning educational institution. And then the girl will make a request - for example, they are evicted from the hostel and you need to rent an apartment, but there is no money yet; it is necessary to give a bribe to the teacher, otherwise she will be expelled; send money home because my own mother fell ill, and many more. etc. The key phrase of the request will be "to borrow money." Without noticing it, you will give the required amount. This is how an elderly resident of the Traktorozavodsky district fell for the bait of a cunning intruder, who borrowed 30 thousand rubles for her “cousin’s niece”. And also, after the “relative” left the old woman’s apartment, jewelry and documents disappeared.
Dear citizens! Don't trust strangers. Blindly believing people, you become a potential victim of criminals. If you are approached on the street by "distant relatives", at least ask to see their identification documents before taking them to your home. And best of all, call real relatives by phone and check whether “Tanya”, “Seryozha” or “Zhenya” really arrived in Volgograd.
6. Imaginary neighbors
The doorbell of your apartment is ringing. Having opened, on the threshold stands a person (man or woman) who is dressed at home: in slippers, in a dressing gown or tracksuit. The stranger introduces himself as a neighbor on the porch, calls the apartment number and says that he urgently needs help. Of course, you will let the “guest” into the apartment. In the meantime, a person will begin to confusingly state the essence of the visit: for example, he is an entrepreneur, he is engaged in the transportation of various goods. His car was stopped at the border and he needs to pay customs clearance tax. An impressive amount is called, about 200 thousand rubles. The stranger reports that he has most of the money and he just needs to “add” everything. As a rule, they ask from 50 to 80 thousand rubles, and there already, how much for a good neighbor, i.e. You don't mind borrowing. Naturally, you doubt whether or not to help the stranger, and here, he throws out a trump card: so that you do not worry, gold jewelry will remain as a pledge. Doubts are dispelled and you, "helping a neighbor", forever lose your money. And the gold and diamonds left as collateral turn out to be bijouterie, which costs 2 kopecks. So 40-year-old resident Central region, helping a neighbor, lost 56 thousand rubles, and after the visit of an uninvited guest, valuables disappeared from the house. Remember, if strangers come to you with similar requests, it is better not to let their house in at all. Talk to them on the flight of stairs or through the door, and if you decide to help, check your passport and carefully inspect the jewelry left as collateral for samples precious metal. And remember, if you become a victim or witness of a crime, or find yourself in a life situation that causes you concern, contact the police immediately. The faster you call, the higher the likelihood that the attackers will be detained in hot pursuit.
7. Cheating on the street
A stranger comes up to you on the street and asks for help: call his girlfriend on his cell phone and call her to the phone. He will begin to talk about the fact that she has a very jealous husband or strict parents. The number on the device will already be dialed, so you, having decided to help the unlucky lover, boldly take the phone and fulfill his request. Then a second stranger passes by you and “accidentally” drops a package or bag. You and the first stranger naturally notice this, catch up with the unlucky guy and return what was lost.
The owner is very happy, thanks you and informs you that the package contains an impressive amount of money, as a rule, it is called from 50 to 100 thousand rubles, and you are entitled to a reward for returning the loss. The lucky owner of the package with money and the man go around the corner to, according to them, calculate the amount of the reward, and they leave you to hold the valuable bundle, however, pretending not to trust you, they demand that you leave a deposit. You boldly give your gold jewelry and wallet to strangers.
After some time, when strangers still do not appear, and you still decide to look at the contents of the package, to your surprise, instead of money, it contains shredded paper mixed with copies banknotes, but simply, a doll, your gold jewelry and money disappear along with the attackers.
In order not to fall for such a deception, do not trust strangers on the streets. Do not engage in dialogue with them and do not help them. Attackers only want your money and valuables. They take advantage of your kindness and responsiveness to their requests. They know perfectly well that ordinary people will always help, they will not leave a person in a difficult situation. And for you, such “help” turns into the loss of your own savings and everything that was acquired by overwork. If you find yourself in a similar situation and you are offered a "reward" for supposedly found things - immediately call the police and report in detail the signs of strangers. By doing this, you will help the operatives to detain scammers and prevent similar cases of deceiving people.
Press Service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Volgograd Region