Over the past week, 73 Crimeans have given their money to scammers

• under various pretexts, an unknown person asks you to follow a link sent to you or install a specific application;
• an unknown person calls on a cell phone or via instant messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber), introduces himself as an employee of a bank/Internet portal «Gosuslugi»/law enforcement agencies and reports that right now third parties are trying to gain access to an account or are taking out a loan in your name and that money urgently needs to be transferred to a «safe» or «reserve» account;
• an unknown person calls on a cell phone or writes via instant messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber), offers quick and profitable earnings by investing in the stock exchange, the stock exchange of a certain company or bank;
• an unknown person calls on a cell phone or via instant messengers (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber), introduces himself as an employee of a mobile operator and informs that the contract for the provision of mobile communication services has expired and the number will be blocked right now;

The Crimean police reminds: all this is a criminal pretext for stealing money by deception and intimidation. Do not panic, soberly assess the situation and call the appropriate institutions for clarification. Double-check the information carefully.

VIA CALLS

It is better to avoid telephone conversations with suspicious people who introduce themselves as employees of the bank, law enforcement agencies, etc.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO INTERRUPT THE CONVERSATION, HANG UP.

The police were contacted 36 citizens who have suffered from the actions of telephone scammers.

A resident of Simferopol filed a complaint with the police and said that he wanted to buy a motorcycle part online. Later, the man found a website for repair and sale of spare parts for motorcycles and left a request there. After that, an unknown person called him, introduced himself as an order processing operator and told the applicant that the part was not in stock and had to be made to order. The man agreed and sent an advance payment to the specified details. After some time, the applicant still did not receive the part he needed, and when he went to the website, he discovered that it was blocked.

25 of the specified number of CALLS were made via messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber).

A woman contacted the police in the Sovietsky District and told them that an unknown person called her on the Telegram messenger and introduced himself as an analyst for one of the online stores. The fake employee offered the applicant to earn money by investing her savings in the company. Intrigued by the «profitable» offer, the woman transferred money to the specified details, but after that the analyst for the online store stopped communicating.

A resident of the Saki district received a call in the WhatsApp messenger from an unknown person who introduced himself as a bank employee and said that the attackers were allegedly trying to hack her bank account right now. To prevent the operation, she needed to transfer the available money to the specified details. Having been misled, the applicant followed the instructions of the unknown person, and later realized that she did not have access to the new account.

Have you heard these words over the phone?

— “unknown persons are now taking out a loan in your name”;

— «You need to get ahead of the scammers and transfer your funds to a safe account»;

— “an investigator/inquiry officer/bailiff/FSB operative is calling you”;

— “a criminal case has been opened against you…”;

— “the term of the agreement for using the mobile operator’s services has expired…”.

HANG UP!

VIA INTERNET SITES, SOCIAL NETWORKS, MESSENGERS

People have fallen for the tricks of scammers who use social networks, instant messengers and Internet sites 29 citizens.

A resident of Orenburg received a message in the WhatsApp messenger from an unknown person who offered to help the applicant with obtaining a loan. The woman transferred funds to the specified details, and then the subscriber stopped responding.

A resident of Simferopol filed a fraud report with the police. The woman said that an unknown person wrote to her in the Telegram messenger and said that she had won the lottery, but to receive the winnings she had to make an alleged insurance contribution. Without assessing the situation, the woman transferred the money to an unknown account, but never received the winnings.

A man contacted the police of Krasnoperekopsk district. He told law enforcement that he wanted to buy car tires through an online service of free ads. The applicant found a good offer and contacted the alleged seller, who said that he needed to make an advance payment for the goods. The man agreed and transferred the money to the specified details, after which the «seller» deleted the ad and blocked the applicant.

VIA INSTALLING THIRD-PARTY APPLICATIONS AND CLICKING ON LINKS

8 citizens fell for the tricks of scammers — they followed links from an unknown source and installed malicious applications.

On the Internet, do not follow links from unknown people and do not enter your bank card details.

A resident of Simferopol received a call from an unknown person on WhatsApp who introduced himself as a bank employee. The fake employee told the applicant that the contract for the provision of mobile operator services had expired and the man needed to renew it, otherwise his number would be blocked forever. The «bank employee» also sent the applicant a link, after clicking on which money was debited from the man’s bank card.

A resident of Krasnogvardeisky District filed a fraud report with the police. The man reported that an unknown person called him, introduced himself as an employee of the State Services Internet portal, and offered to protect his account on the server, since the attackers were allegedly trying to get hold of his personal data. To complete the transaction, the man followed the link provided by the unknown person, where he entered his bank card details. After that, funds were debited from the applicant’s account.

source: press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Crimea