Fraudsters have launched a new scheme, sending the Russians SMS with “bonuses from the state”, which require confirmation when clicking on the link. This was warned on Tuesday, March 16, by the head of the All-Russia People’s Front project “For the Rights of Borrowers” Evgenia Lazareva.
According to her, the potential victim receives a message on his phone notifying him that funds have been credited to the account, which are “part of the bonus crediting under the support program” from the state. To receive “bonuses”, the user must follow the link and confirm the “legitimacy” on the site, which is a fraudulent copy of the state portal.
“For failure to comply with such a requirement, the criminals promise a trial and criminal prosecution for illegal enrichment,” RIA Novosti quotes Lazareva.
On a fake website, a citizen is asked to fill out a form with personal data and card data, which, once in the hands of cybercriminals, allow them to steal money or use personal data for enrichment.
As the specialist noted, the legend with payments was used by fraudsters even during the period of severe restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, but initially fake news TV spots from federal channels and advertising on social networks were used for its implementation.
“Now the legend has simply been redesigned for more targeted use through SMS, since such messages began to be blocked on social networks,” Lazareva said.
Analysis of mobile threats in the past 2020 showed a significant increase in the activity of adware and malware that steal from users’ mobile banks. In total, more than 156 thousand of these viruses were detected, which is 100% more compared to 2019.
The expert recalled that any targeted assistance and support is provided exclusively at the request of a citizen.