Attention! New methods of telephone fraud. How to avoid falling for scammers: SMS messages and calls “from the bank”

As soon as telephones appeared, telephone hooligans appeared, and with them telephone scammers. Now everyone has a mobile phone, from a five-year-old child to an eighty-year-old pensioner. The field for fraud is simply immense. And if there is a product, then there will be a merchant. In this article we have collected the most common forms of telephone fraud. Be sure to show this to your mom. Moms are so trusting.

“Mom, I'm in trouble.”

The main rule is to never worry or fuss. Such messages usually arrive in the evening or late at night. Fraud via SMS is the most common, but not the most effective. The patient may not see the message at the right time. Or he may not be his mother, or his child is at home, snoring sweetly in the crib after an evening story. They send tons of such messages, in the hope that one will work. It is useless to call back to such a number; it is always a “non-subscriber”. By the way, they can write without addressing their mother; the addresses “son” or “brother” are less common. It’s just that mothers are the most compassionate, it’s easier to separate them.

“Call back immediately!”

Here the divorce is more subtle. When a person is asked to transfer money, he may become tense, but if he is asked to call back, then this is normal. You never know, and from whose phone is the child in trouble writing? Alas, the call will be paid, and several hundred will be debited from your account for a conversation with a stranger who will delay the conversation in every possible way. If you are worried about your child, then call his number, not the one in the SMS. If you can’t get through by phone, then ask via SMS who is writing.

Someone else's money

If money has been credited to your account for no reason, then perhaps you will soon receive an SMS with the following content: “Sorry, I mistakenly credited you with 300 rubles. Please return to this number." Again, there is no need to rush. In general, never rush if strangers ask you to pay. It happens that people make a mistake by one number and put money on another number. It happens to everyone. But if they ask you to transfer to a number with which your phone is related only by the eight in front, this is already a scam. The meaning of the deception is this: you, as an honest person, put three hundred on the specified number, and the next day the operator writes off the money from your number that the attackers sent. They simply send a check to the phone shop from where they topped up your account and ask to return the money because they made the wrong number. They are in the black, you are in the minus.

You've got a wrong number

This method is completely foolish, but as practice shows, it works. They just write that they put money on your phone and ask you to return it. Even if you are very honest, wait three days; if the person really made a mistake somewhere, then he will not leave you alone, he will even call you.

SMS from the bank

Remember the main rule? Composure comes first. Now further. Remember if you have a Sber card. Although there may be another bank in the message, scammers send thousands of messages to random numbers, so they often choose the largest one. If you call this number back, the scammer, posing as a support or security service, will perform an “unblocking”. To do this, you will need to provide the card number and PIN code or CVV code indicated on the back of the card. Remember yourself and tell your mom that bank employees never ask for this information. Never!

Money was debited from the card

This scheme is similar to the previous one, but contains more motivating motivation. The money is about to be written off! Run, save! Don't fuss, no one is filming anything. Look at your SMS history and remind yourself what messages from the bank look like. Banks NEVER write like that! The money withdrawal scheme is the same: they ask you to provide confidential information to access the card or perform some manipulations at an ATM. In both cases you will be at a loss.

Loan debt

Scary, isn't it? It’s scary for those who have never received messages from banks. Banks never send messages from unknown numbers. Usually in the “sender” field there is the name of the bank in words. Well, if you didn’t take out a loan from the specified bank, then relax. Moreover, if it was signed on behalf of the Central Bank Russian Federation. You won’t be able to take out a loan from it even if you wanted to.

Winning the competition

This is common. Instead of “Europe Plus” there may be another radio station or even a car dealership that is raffling off cars in honor of its own anniversary. If you call this number, you will have two options. They will question you for a long time, write down your data, ask you to wait on the line, or otherwise drag out the conversation, constantly congratulating you on your win. As a result, you will receive a decent bill for calling paid number. The second option is that you will be asked to pay the tax on your winnings through the terminal or to the courier. Winnings are indeed taxable. But, firstly, in order to win you must first participate in the drawing, and secondly, paying taxes through a terminal or courier, without visiting the office, is completely childish. But the thirst for freebies is great, people fall for this.

Here they want to grab you out of curiosity or fear. It seems like you were having a party with someone and here you can download a photo report from this event. A non-family person is driven only by curiosity, and a family person is driven by wild fear, because it will be a big deal if something like this really happened. The point of the scam is that by clicking on the link you catch a hellish virus that either slowly siphons money from your account or blocks the entire system, offering to transfer a certain amount to a specified phone number. Recipe for success: never fall for such things. Even if you were hanging out with some beauty, she definitely won’t contact you like that.

Free “OKs”

There are a lot of elderly people on Odnoklassniki, which means they are gullible about all sorts of scams. This is how, for example, your mother receives a message with an offer to receive the desired OKs. If you don’t know, OKs are a kind of currency inside Odnoklassniki. You can use it to pay for virtual gifts to friends or give an A+ for a photo of a school friend. In general, this is a very important thing for which you can take risks. The risk in this matter will not be noble, but careless. Because for this message to the number you will most likely be charged a couple of hundred rubles or even subscribed to some service like weather or SMS jokes, which will regularly debit money from mobile account. To find out how much a message to any short number costs, use the service http://smsnumbers.ru/. Just enter the number in the search field and get all the information about the number. Who is registered under and how much does the message cost?

Telephone fraud is one of the most common crimes that emerged in the 20th century.

How do criminals use the phone to extort money from users?

Or, to put it modern language How do telephone scammers scam us out of money? Helpful information for all subscribers - further.

The telephone, as soon as it appeared, became a tool of criminal activity. Telephone fraud especially began to flourish after mobile phones came into use.

According to international statistics, the annual total losses of subscribers and telecom operators amount to approximately 10-40 billion dollars.

With the advent landline phone scammers began to come up with schemes to scam owners of stationary devices.

Basically the following scheme worked: home phone the subscriber received a call. An unfamiliar voice claimed that trouble had happened to his close relative: he had hit a man and he needed to pay the police.

People have been warned about this scheme many times in newspapers and on TV, but unfortunately it still works to this day. They usually call at night, supposedly from the police.

At first I spoke to the subscriber stranger, offering to pay off the police quite a large sum. Then the scammers began to work more sophisticatedly.

The son called the parent from the police and, crying, described the situation. Then the policeman picked up the phone and clearly explained what to do, and in as soon as possible.

The attackers make inquiries first, so they know that the owner of this number has a son who drives a car.

If you find yourself in this situation, ask the fake cop to pass the phone to your son. Ask him a question that only he can know the answer to.

For example, when was the last time you visited your grandmother or others. This is where the “divorce” will most likely end.

The second option is to call your son on his mobile and make sure that everything is okay with him.

The situation with mobile fraud familiar to many. In this case the account mobile number is being attacked by scammers, but most users don’t even notice it.

If the balance decreases by no a large amount, subscribers often simply do not pay attention to this. But some still understand that they have become victims of a criminal act.

What schemes have the scammers come up with? Below are the most common ways to deceive users. mobile communications:

What to do if criminals withdrew money from your phone through a social network?

Immediately take screenshots of duplicate pages or pop-ups. For further account statements, please contact law enforcement agencies.

It would be useful to contact mobile operators, because the user was not notified that the service was paid, so he could accuse the operator of withdrawing funds without his consent.

You can withdraw money from your card; there are several ways to do this.. However, in all cases, the fraudster needs to find out the CVC code, which is located on the reverse side, or the confirmation code for a particular payment transaction.

By misleading the cardholder with messages about blocking the number or in another way, attackers receive a confirmation code, as well as access to money.

Do not tell anyone your confirmation code or CVC code, otherwise you risk losing the money stored on the card.

If the bank has not ensured reliable security of funds on the cards of its clients, fraudsters may well withdraw money using the credit card number. True, in this case all the blame lies with the bank and the client will be compensated for the damage.

Illegal withdrawal of funds is also possible if the payment instrument number is linked to the number mobile phone.

Fraudsters often use unusual schemes. For example, when purchasing a product, they transfer extra money to the buyer. A few minutes later, the scammers ask for this money back.

The victim sends them a transaction confirmation code to transfer funds back. But the attackers steal all the money on the card.

Do not trust unknown persons. If you need to perform an operation, then do it yourself.

If the credit card is connected to the phone and the online banking system, then this is possible.

Using a mobile phone, criminals obtain card details, after which they unauthorizedly transfer funds using their own phone.

However, such crimes cannot be called frequent, because banks regularly update their security systems.

This is cheaper than losing your reputation and paying damages to your clients.

Checking a mobile phone number for fraud is possible, and absolutely free. This process has certain features, but is accessible to everyone.

You just need to familiarize yourself with the list of sites that offer such a service on the Internet.

The most well-known sites where you can check a phone number for fraud are:

In addition, some mobile operators (for example, MTS) are launching special services, allowing you to find out the cost of a call to specific number phone.

If you fall for the trick of telephone scammers, then first of all, report the fact of the crime to your operator and indicate the phone number from which you received the SMS.

When transferring money to third parties try writing a statement to the mobile operator demanding a refund.

However, there are no guarantees that your money will be returned to you.

Sometimes operators return, but on the condition that the transfers were made within the same network.

If swindlers demand money for the release or ransom of relatives, then you can report this to law enforcement agencies.

In conclusion, it is worth adding that it is not often possible to punish scammers, since they often change phone numbers. Subscribers must be extremely careful and not disclose their data to third parties.

Video: Telephone scam

We have become aware of a relatively new method of telephone deception. Fraudsters call mobile phone owners whose numbers are linked to bank cards and force them to transfer large sums to their accounts. In order to become a victim, it is enough to dial a certain combination of numbers and symbols on your phone.

How can you tell if someone is trying to deceive you?

The fraudulent scheme will work if the victim’s phone is linked to a bank card. If you receive notifications about card transactions (messages about receipts and debits of money), use mobile banking, - this means your number is linked to the card, and you can manage your accounts through USSD requests

What can you do if you are a victim of fraud?

Igor Dorenkov, chief legal department, RO OZPP "Roskontrol":

It is most likely to return the money if banks recognize this as a massive fraud and classify such transfers as made as a result of fraudulent actions. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for the victim to prove that he entered the request without realizing what it would lead to. The specificity of such fraud lies precisely in the fact that for the bank the transfers look completely “ordinary”.

The only thing you can do on your own in this situation is to try to intercept the transfer immediately by contacting the bank operator. But in similar fraudulent schemes Most often, money is immediately withdrawn from accounts, and it can be extremely difficult to catch the right moment.

Universal advice, of course, is not to enter commands into your phone that you are not one hundred percent sure of. And ask advice from tech-savvy relatives and friends if you have any doubts.

Telephone scams are methods of extorting money using telephone communication, both mobile and stationary. These could be phone calls or SMS messages of a nature that force the victim to transfer funds. Fraudsters are attracted to such methods of work, since it is difficult to establish the identity of the culprit. In this article we will look at what to do if you receive an SMS from scammers.

Types of telephone fraud using SMS

SMS fraud involves sending information in a message aimed at getting the victim to send money to accounts, to a phone number, or to call back. unknown number. Below are some examples of common scams.

Call for help from a relative

Fraudsters send messages like “Mom, I’m in the police,” “I hit a man, I was arrested,” “I urgently need your help,” etc. Sometimes the text directly asks you to transfer money to an account. If this is not the case, then the scammers hope that the victim will call back. The result of such a call could be extortion as early as telephone mode, withdrawing money from a phone account, etc.

Blocking a payment card

The victim receives an SMS on his phone like “Your card at Bank X is blocked. Call back at the specified phone number" If the owner of the number responds and calls back, there are two possible outcomes. The first one is that everything will be written off during the phone call. available funds from the account. Second, the telephone scammer will introduce himself as a bank employee and offer to clarify the card details (number, expiration date and CV2 code). After receiving such information, all available funds are debited from the card.

Winnings in sweepstakes

The messages contain information that the subscriber has become the winner of a competition or drawing, but to receive the prize you need to call back the number specified in the SMS or transfer a small amount Money to the specified details.

Request to repay loan

The victim receives an SMS request to urgently repay the overdue debt, sometimes the details are immediately indicated. A victim who does have credit may transfer funds in a hurry. If there is no credit, the person calls and finds out the reason for receiving the message, and during the call, all funds are debited from the phone account.

Request to return an erroneous translation

Fraudsters inform the subscriber via SMS that funds were mistakenly transferred to his phone or card account. They are usually asked to return them by topping up their phone account. They usually indicate small amounts, hoping that the subscriber will not check his account, but will simply transfer the funds.

The above list of examples of SMS fraud is not exhaustive. Most of them are designed to get the victim to call back under the influence of emotions.

How to avoid becoming a victim of mobile phone fraud

When receiving a message of this nature, in order to avoid loss of funds, you must:

Assess the reality of the information. For example, think about where a relative who is supposedly in trouble might be located, whether accounts have ever been opened in a bank whose card appears to have been blocked, etc.
Pay attention to the sender's number. Fraudsters often use numbers that are similar to the number of the possible real sender. For example, in short number bank one digit can be changed.
If the recipient decides to call back, then a minimum amount must be available on the account for debiting.

Where to contact

If the subscriber realizes that he has become a victim of telephone fraud via SMS, he must contact:

To the service center of the telephone network operator

This must be done as soon as possible. Immediately after the call you must contact hotline operator, and then personally write a statement at the company’s office. But the operator can return the funds only if the scammer’s phone number also belongs to their network.

To the police

You must file a fraud report.
There is no strict form for a police report, but it must contain the following information:

name of the police station and full name of the head;
Full name of the victim, his passport details, residential address and contact telephone number;
date and time of receipt of SMS from scammers;
the number from which the message came;
full text of the message;
description of the subscriber’s actions (called back, transferred funds, etc.);
the amount of damage received.

A sample statement to the police regarding fraud can be downloaded in this article

The police must respond to the complaint within ten days. The result will be the initiation of a criminal case or refusal to initiate one. In the second case, the victim must be given a written response indicating the reason.

A specialist will advise you in the comments to the article

Modern technologies have certainly made our lives much easier and more interesting. Gadgets, cellular communications, the Internet and other benefits of civilization have become so firmly established in the everyday life of the majority modern people, that sometimes it’s even unclear how they managed without all this a couple of decades ago.

But this phenomenon also has negative side. Technologies provide not only Free access to any information, but also create conditions for the emergence of new ideas from swindlers and swindlers. One of the most widespread types of criminal acts is telephone fraud. High-tech crime schemes range from the most primitive to complex and multi-stage, and the amounts that victims of dishonest telephone scammers lose annually amount to billions of rubles.

At the same time, the investigation of telephone fraud is significantly complicated by the fact that the criminal can act at a distance, being in another city or even country. According to law enforcement agencies, even citizens already serving sentences in prison for other crimes may turn out to be telephone scammers or their accomplices.

New types of fraud using cellular communication appear quite often. But for a long time existing schemes deceptions are still surprisingly successful. Even the most cautious mobile phone owner can become a victim of a crime such as telephone fraud.

Of course, it is very difficult to completely stop such criminals. But best prevention telephone fraud, which can significantly reduce crime in this area is attentiveness, as calm a reaction as possible to calls and messages from unfamiliar phone numbers and maximum awareness of the methods used by such criminals.

Are there ways to avoid falling prey to telephone scammers, and is it possible to legally punish those who commit crimes using mobile communications? First, let's look at the most common and well-known types of telephone fraud today.

“Mom, I’m in trouble!...”

The most famous and, perhaps, widespread way of deceiving citizens and embezzling quite large sums of money is asking for help on behalf of friends or relatives. Surely most mobile phone owners have received SMS messages of similar content at least once.

More complex circuit– a call from a person who may introduce himself as a police officer or prosecutor. In most cases, the “policeman” reports that one of the relatives was involved in an accident with serious consequences, and in order to avoid litigation and liability, it is necessary to transfer a certain amount of money.

Concern for loved ones, excitement, surprise - this is what criminals planning to commit fraud are counting on. Phone calls or messages about help, scammers most often manage to deceive the most gullible part of the population - the elderly.

Sometimes scammers simply act at random, calling random subscribers. But there are types of telephone fraud when scammers deliberately watch wealthy people, collecting information about them and their friends or relatives. In this case, the versions invented by the criminals can be incredibly coherent and convincing. To trick victims of fraud into believing and transferring money to scammers’ accounts, telephone criminals use various methods, using high-tech devices, for example, to imitate the voice or process the photo of those on whose behalf they are calling.

Call or message to paid numbers

The method of telephone deception, when the victim of a scam tries to call a paid phone number, is rightfully considered the oldest and most proven scheme. The simplest one is that a person receives a call from an unfamiliar number, but the call ends abruptly or is dropped after dialing. When trying to call back, the subscriber either receives long beeps, or “communicates” with the answering machine turned on. In both cases, the call is paid, and money from the account of the curious mobile phone owner is transferred to the account of the scammer.

Fraud telephone numbers, for which you have to pay for calls or messages, are used very often and in a variety of variations. For example, unscrupulous people send SMS with a “lucrative” offer to send a message in order to receive a small amount “as a gift” into their account. Most often, those who respond to this are not only not replenished, but the SMS sent costs several times more than the amount of the offered “gift”.

The content of SMS with requests to call a specified number can be very different: a plea to help a sick child, an offer to get acquainted, to change the mobile phone tariff to a more favorable one, greetings and congratulations from supposedly familiar people, etc... Sometimes scammers turn to passers-by on the street with a request borrow a cell phone to “make a call.” After one or several calls, a responsive mobile phone owner discovers that the balance is significantly less.

Top up someone else's phone

More often we're talking about about a request from a “friend” or “child” with a request to top up the account of the number from which the message came. Another option is a call or SMS from a stranger who “accidentally made a mistake” while replenishing the balance of his mobile phone, putting money not on his own number, but on the subscriber’s number. And now ask to “return” the funds by topping up his “mobile phone” account. Of course, the money with which the “victim of deception” replenishes the balance of an imaginary friend or “inattentive subscriber” immediately ends up in the fraudster’s account.

Raffles, prizes, lotteries

No less often, cases of telephone fraud are associated with various “advantageous offers” that thousands of citizens receive daily via SMS. Drawing of a valuable prize from mobile operator, a bank, a representative office of a well-known trademark, an announcement about a sale or purchases at an extremely favorable price... And for all this it is proposed to “just” deposit a small amount of money into the account specified in the message. Of course, no one will win anything except the scammers themselves, who as a result will receive a decent profit from thousands of gullible people who transferred money.

Receive funds from someone else's account cell phone scammers can do it in other ways. The most common of them is an offer to call back or send a return message to take part in a prize draw. The number is paid.

Problems with a bank card (account)

The most primitive telephone scams involving bank cards or accounts are designed to exploit a person’s fear of losing their savings and begin in much the same way: an SMS from the “bank” is sent to the phone, or scammers call, introducing themselves as its employees. The information can be the most unpleasant, for example, that a bank card is blocked or there is a loan debt. IN best case scenario To clarify the situation, the phone owner is asked to call the “bank” operator. Those who call back after this end up on a paid number and lose a large amount from their mobile phone account.

Much worse consequences occur if, at the request of the “bank,” the phone owner tells the scammers the card number and its PIN code, password for “ Personal account» Internet versions of the bank, personal data and other information that should be kept secret. In such a situation, money from the bank account of the defrauded subscriber actually disappears without a trace.

Code in message

A relatively new telephone scam is associated with online stores selling virtual content, where you can pay for goods by entering a code sent to the buyer’s mobile phone.

Fraudsters create a website with paid access to various melodies, pictures and other services. After this, the telephone numbers of random subscribers are entered as the payer. On numbers indicated SMS messages containing an access code are sent, and the scammers can only call the recipients. Usually, victims of scammers are told that a certain code has been sent to their number by mistake, and they are asked to simply dictate this code. Having learned the access code, scammers “pay” for the content on their website by transferring money from the mobile phone account of a gullible subscriber.

The peculiarity of this method of deception is that even if telephone criminals can be found, it is almost impossible to prove the fact of fraud. The only way to protect yourself from such innovative deception is to get into similar situation, do not under any circumstances tell callers any numbers or codes received in the message.

How to understand that a scammer is calling

The methods of “taking money from the population” listed above are among the most common. But this list of scams is far from exhaustive. Every day new types of telephone scams arise. And yet they all have general signs, which should at least alert you and force you to more carefully analyze the call or message you receive:

An unknown, hidden or unfamiliar number from which a call is made or a message is sent.
A special way of communicating. The main weapon of telephone scammers is surprise. “Urgent”, “quickly”, “immediately”, “I’ll explain later”, “need faster” – these are common words and expressions from the vocabulary of such criminals. People who commit telephone fraud behave very confidently, they can put pressure, insist, or, on the contrary, try to win over the subscriber by any means. the main task at the same time - to catch the future victim of telephone deception by surprise, not to allow him to think about it, not to allow him to doubt.
There are no clear, direct answers to the questions. Literally two or three clarifying or personal questions can confuse a telephone swindler and make him nervous.
A request or even a demand to communicate something secret information or personal data: number and PIN code bank card, personal information, website passwords, etc.
"Free cheese" It is, of course, pleasant to receive news of winning the competition. Especially if you don’t participate in any competitions. Prizes, profitable offer, gifts for which you need to “pay extra,” “make a deposit,” or otherwise transfer a sum of money are one of the signs of telephone fraud.

How to respond to attempts to deceive

When receiving alarming calls or messages, the main thing is to try to calm down and not make decisions right away. It is better to immediately tell the caller that you need time to think about everything.
Golden rule: never, under any circumstances, disclose your personal information to anyone or confidential information: bank card pin code, account number, login and password for pages in in social networks, on Internet sites, etc.
Ask questions. If the caller introduces himself as a police officer, bank officer, clinic doctor, insurance agent, the first thing to do is try to find out as much as possible more information about the interlocutor. Simple questions, for example, the name and position of the caller, which police department, bank or insurance agency they are calling from, contact details of the head of the organization, how to find the official website, etc. will not confuse a real employee, but will make scammers nervous.
Before responding to messages or calls from “relatives” or “friends,” you should try to call the person on whose behalf the message came, or one of his loved ones with whom he may currently be.
Take the time to search the Internet for information about competitions and sweepstakes that people are encouraged to participate in via SMS. Often deceived participants in such offers leave warning reviews on forums.
Do not rush to transfer or give money. A requirement to deposit a sum of money, for example, as a deposit for a prize draw or to replenish a bank’s “control” account should immediately raise red flags.

Is it possible to punish criminals

From all of the above we can conclude reasoned conclusion: It is quite possible to protect yourself from telephone scams by being vigilant and adequately assessing the information received from a suspicious number. But if a person nevertheless becomes a victim of scammers, is there any point in turning to law enforcement agencies for help, and is there an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for telephone fraud?

The legislation of our country telephone scam is considered a crime and falls under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, that is, “Fraud.” For a citizen who single-handedly commits telephone fraud, articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provide for punishment by a fine, correctional labor, or, depending on the scale of the crime committed and the damage caused, an actual prison term of up to two years. For a group of fraudsters, the amount of fines and sentences are, accordingly, significantly higher.

Who will help the victim?

It's hard to argue that The best way protect yourself - ignore suspicious calls or messages. But if telephone fraud is not stopped, then sooner or later scammers will be able to deceive the more gullible. Therefore, when trying to commit such a crime, you should not remain indifferent.

The first thing you need to know to stop phone fraud is where to go to prevent criminal activities. The most logical thing to do is to immediately call the police and report the suspicious message (call). It is also a good idea to report telephone scams to subscriber service or service technical support cellular company, from whose number a message (call) was received from scammers. If the operator values its own reputation, most likely, a decision will be made to block the suspicious number.

But what to do if criminals still manage to commit telephone fraud? Where to go for help?

In a situation where a subscriber has transferred a sum of money to scammers within one mobile network, there is a chance if you quickly contact the operator to get your money back. To do this you will need to submit to customer department application for the return of this amount. Unfortunately, if the scammer’s number belonged to another operator, it is impossible to return the money by transfer.

You should also immediately contact the nearest police station to report the fraud. It will need to describe in detail all the circumstances: when and from what phone number the message came (the call was made), who called, what name, surname, position the fraudster introduced himself to, the essence and details of the conversation or message, the information that was required to be provided.

After the application is accepted and registered, a decision is made within 10-30 days to initiate a criminal case. But there is a high probability that this will be denied for some reason. However, there is still a point in filing an application. In case of repeated similar cases of fraud or if the swindlers are detained, the fact of filing this application may be taken into account by the investigator and (or) the court.