Russia (bbabo.net), - According to the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, every day swindlers steal millions of rubles from Omsk residents in various ways. Fake certificates of housing and communal services workers, a pension fund are used. Attackers pose as bank employees, trade in social networks, create duplicate sites. How to protect yourself from telephone and virtual robbers?
Today, not a day goes by without news about virtual scammers, who, thanks to the Internet, are becoming more inventive and arrogant. An elderly woman from Omsk confided in her “friend” on social networks and lost more than 150 thousand rubles. Her compatriot, believing the fake bankers, transferred more than a million rubles to "safe" accounts. Another Siberian woman was sent a letter, and then an expensive gift from a "famous British actor". From such attention, the citizen completely lost her head and came to her senses when she lost almost five million rubles.
There are many other hooks on the Web that catch inexperienced investors.
- I came across on the Internet an offer to earn money on the stock exchange, filled out a participant questionnaire. The broker who called promised mountains of gold. He helped install a program for calculating profits on the phone, - said the Omsk pensioner. - Called constantly. He was so convincing that I first sent all the savings to the specified account. Then credit money. When the amount of loans amounted to 915,000 rubles, he began to insist on selling the house. It was only then that I became suspicious and contacted the police.
Most often, elderly women fall for the bait of virtual swindlers, and the number of victims is growing.
- Over the past year, 6994 crimes using the Internet have been registered in the Omsk region. This is two percent more than a year ago, - said Lyudmila Zakharova, head of the department for the investigation of crimes in the field of IT SU OMVD in the city of Omsk, to the correspondent. - Almost eighty percent of fraud is an encroachment on the property of citizens.
According to experts, the pandemic has spurred the growth of online thefts. In the mode of self-isolation, people began to actively switch to contactless payments. The peak growth of scams of this nature - seventy percent - was observed in 2019, and in 2020 it amounted to forty percent. Now the situation is stabilizing, but remains alarming. In February, Omsk law enforcement officers daily recorded up to two dozen facts of remote theft of funds.
So, now every fourth crime is committed via cellular communication or the Internet. Becoming victims of fraudsters, Omsk residents have lost over 250 million rubles. And this is only official data.
The first place in the criminal rating is occupied by "black bankers". As a rule, they present themselves as employees of the security service of a financial institution. And they report that the client's savings were credited, but they can still be saved. The dumbfounded citizens follow the recommendations, give passwords and codes. And they lose everything.
Meanwhile, according to the police, it is extremely difficult to catch virtual swindlers. They use single SIM cards. They call from other cities, republics, including places not so remote. Taking time to cover their tracks.
There are twice as many scammers in the field of sales. People find great deals on the Internet, they are promised additional discounts over the phone. Trusting buyers order plane tickets, cars, tires, fur coats, jewelry. And they break.
Attackers have already learned how to churn out phishing sites - almost exact copies of portals that people are accustomed to trust. Send links to their victims. And those, unaware of the forgery, follow them, enter secret data. In January, even users of the Gosuslugi website received a warning about the need to protect their account.
"Attention! Cases of fraud have become more frequent. Do not disclose the code and SMS to anyone. Gosuslug employees never ask for such information. Use additional ways to protect your data," the message says.
The Omsk police also reminds citizens that neither police officers nor employees of banking organizations call customers about the safety of their savings.
- Such calls should alert. The only right decision is to interrupt the conversation. And if in doubt, call the bank back or go there yourself, - says Lyudmila Zakharova. - Be extremely careful about offers of quick earnings by investing in the stock market. Cheap online shopping should also be done on trusted sites. Give preference to payment after the parcel is delivered. And before you give money, check its contents.
By the way
Last year, within the framework of preventive measures, the Omsk media posted 2,234 materials on the topic of remote crimes in the Omsk region. 605,938 relevant leaflets were distributed to the population. 1,460 letters were sent to the heads of enterprises on the facts of crimes committed against their employees.
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