Krympress reports:
Telephone scammers, introducing themselves as university staff, under the pretext of entering the budget, abduct from applicants an account on the portal «State Services», the Materials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said, which was familiarized with RIA Novosti.
The scammers promise to the applicants “high chances” to enter the budget, and then ask to go to the fisching link sent, which leads to a duplicate of the “State Service” site.
If a person agrees to this condition, the scammers stole his account on the state mortal, in case of refusal, the threats begin that the applicant «will not be accepted at all.»
The new scheme of telephone fraud aimed at applicants causes special concern, as it exploits the vulnerability of young people and their parents during high stress and uncertainty, says Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications.
Admission to the university is an important and exciting stage, and it is against this background that scammers build trusting communication, introducing themselves as employees of educational institutions. The use of social engineering and pressure (“high chances of receipt”, “otherwise they will not accept”)-a classic, but still effective tactics of deception— said the deputy.
At the same time, the goal of the attack is the account on the portal “State Services”, which opens access to many personal and legally significant services. After compromising an account, attackers can submit applications, draw up documents, receive payments and create fictitious legal actions on behalf of the victim. This turns this type of phishing from a simple data theft into a potential threat of the entire digital identity of the user.
The fact that scammers use fake copies of the “State Services” website speaks of a high degree of preparation: visually sites are almost no different from the original, and it is extremely difficult to distinguish them without special skills. And since the victim is under pressure and trusts the “official” interlocutor, the probability of error increases repeatedly. Threats addressed to applicants are not just a deception, but an element of psychological violence, which should strengthen the qualifications of such crimes— says Nemkin.
For effective counteracting such schemes, it is necessary to simultaneously develop digital literacy of the population, especially schoolchildren and their families, as well as tighten the requirements for verification of information upon admission. “In addition, it is important that universities themselves actively explain what actions they do not perform upon receipt — for example, they do not call with proposals about“ budget places ”. And the “State Services” portal should expand the tools for protecting accounts, including multifactor authentication and more noticeable notifications about the entrance from new devices, ”the parliamentarian concluded.
Source: press service of the State Duma deputy Anton Nemkina
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