Fraudsters began to try to deceive the Russians on behalf of social workers. Thanks to this, they learn from the victims the code to enter the bank and gain access to their money.
Fraudsters began to deceive bank customers with the help of a legend about replacing social cards, Dmitry Revyakin, head of the corporate interests protection department at VTB Bank, told RBC.
They call bank customers to landline numbers, introduce themselves as employees of social support agencies and offer to update existing social cards. If the person agrees, then the scammers ask for a mobile number, supposedly to send an SMS code about the readiness of the social card. In fact, the client receives an SMS with a code to restore access to the bank’s personal account.
Then the scammers try to get the code and card number from him, which are used to enter the online bank. If they get access to it, then they transfer all the client’s money to their accounts.
Russians may have several types of social cards. They can be the same for all privileged categories, or they can be intended separately for students, pensioners, etc. Also, a social card can be simple or combined with a bank card.
“Usually, older clients suffer from such calls, therefore, in order to protect yourself from such threats, you must always check information received from strangers and not disclose confidential data to anyone over the phone,” recalls Revyakin. In the case of calls from supposedly “social support employees,” he recommends carefully reading the text of incoming SMS that come after such calls — it always contains details and the purpose of the operation. If the SMS comes from the bank, then you should call the bank yourself and double-check the information at the contact center or office.