The malicious personalities deceive their potential victims, posing as a bank or law enforcement agencies. They claim that the client’s savings are in danger and need urgent protection. In case of refusal, these “workers” become more assertive and threaten to turn to relatives in order to convince them of the seriousness of the situation. Fraudsters are then associated with loved ones with a potential victim – parents, spouse/oh or children, trying to convince them of reality threats and urge to influence their relative to “protect” his or family savings. About such a scheme was told by VTB Bank.
In the process of communication, scammers actively use the methods of social engineering, including such familiar topics as registering a loan application, suspicious operations with bank cards and accounts, changing the contact number in the bank and transferring funds to a “safe” account. Almost 90% of all attacks today include elements of social engineering.
“Fraudsters successfully use psychological techniques, manipulating the emotions of their victims. If earlier they called on behalf of the family members, reporting on the accident and the need to transfer money, now they actively use the contacts of relatives. As a result, entire families become victims of threats and extortions. Such aggressive psychological pressure can lead to serious losses, since all family savings are threatened. Therefore, it is important not only to follow the financial security rules, but also to discuss them with loved ones and stay in touch with the bank to verify such information, ”said Nikita Chugunov, senior VTB Vice President, Head of the Digital Business Department.
According to VTB, in January-April, more than 2.7 million fraudulent attacks were made for bank customers, which is 70% more than in the same period last year. The bank was able to prevent a loss of more than 6.3 billion rubles in customer accounts, which is 70% more than last year.
Simple security rules will help to protect your savings and avoid meeting with scammers: do not trust strangers, carefully read SMS from the bank and do not install unverified applications on your devices at the request of third parties.