From 'saving money' to treason charges: Sevastopol police reveal scammers' tricks

In the first case, fraudsters act under the guise of bank employees, law enforcement officers, employees of special services or the government services portal, representatives of mobile phone companies. Using the logo of the relevant institution, the attackers call citizens and, often addressing them by name and patronymic, report various troubles that threaten major property damage or criminal liability. Arousing a feeling of fear, they can talk about an alleged attempt to write off your savings, about taking possession of your property under a forged power of attorney, hacking your personal account on the government services portal, or suspecting you and your loved ones of treason or another crime. Then the whole essence of the attackers’ demands comes down to forcing you to make a money transfer to accounts under their control using the pretext of preventing theft of property or exemption from criminal punishment.

Sometimes, wishing to distract the attention of a potential victim, scammers on the phone first talk about the need to renew a mobile phone service contract or confirm the use of a personal account on the government services portal, for which they ask for an SMS code. After this, the citizen receives a call from the accomplices of the telephone fraudster, who claim that the previously reported confidential information has been seized by criminals, and in order to prevent theft, it is necessary to transfer all the money to a “safe” or “reserve” account. In some cases, fake law enforcement officers ask for “assistance in exposing the criminals”, for which they insist on obtaining a loan from financial institutions and then transferring all the money to the details they specify. To be more convincing, strangers send a scanned copy of a fake ID, imitate the sounds of a call center and use banking or law enforcement terminology in conversation.

When receiving such calls, the Sevastopol police asks you to ignore the demands of the attackers, no matter who they introduce themselves as, and, in order not to be subject to psychological influence, immediately stop talking to them, avoiding even short-term communication. Remember that only scammers who want to steal your savings make the above-described demands over the phone.

In addition, scammers often offer citizens to earn additional income by posting tempting offers on the Internet. Posing as representatives of legal commercial organizations and speaking in a confident voice, they ask to invest in cryptocurrency and various projects that promise «large profits.» However, it should be remembered that the offer of quick and easy profit is a common fraudulent scheme. Therefore, we recommend refraining from money transfers to strangers.

If you have been the victim of a crime, you must immediately contact the nearest territorial internal affairs agency or call 102, where citizens’ reports are accepted around the clock.

source: press service of the Sevastopol Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (based on materials from the legal adviser of the legal group of the Leninsky District Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Dmitry Obelov)