Experts have recorded a sharp increase in fraudulent calls from “siloviks”

by time news

In March-May 2021, telephone scammers began to call people on behalf of representatives of law enforcement and other government agencies, as well as financial regulators, in order to steal their funds and data. This was reported to Vedomosti by the press service of Kaspersky Lab.

“In Russia, in April 2021, compared to December 2020 – February 2021, the number of calls with suspicion of fraud quadrupled when attackers posed as employees of government agencies, law enforcement agencies, and financial regulators,” the company said. More often, the attackers introduced themselves as employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, police, investigators, as well as employees of the Bank of Russia.

This activity peaked in late March and early April. In May, according to experts, a high level of fraudulent activity remains. According to the company, the fraudsters also began to change the tactics of obtaining data: instead of requiring them to be provided, as was done before, they now asked “to install a supposedly special security program on the phone or asked for a transfer to a” secure “account.”

“In the spring, the number of calls allegedly from law enforcement agencies increased rapidly, this legend allows attackers not only to convince the victim to do something, but also to keep it a secret from loved ones,” the Kaspersky Lab stressed.

According to FinCERT, in 2020 the number of fraudulent transactions with Russian accounts increased by 34% compared to 2019, the amount of money transferred to fraudsters increased by 52.2% over the year. The share of money returned to victims was 11.3%, in 2019 – 14.6%. The center’s report says that in more than 60% of fraud cases, people themselves provide the scammers with the data they need to transfer money under the influence of social engineering.

According to banks, fraudsters withdraw money from the account within an hour after the transfer, in 47% of cases – within two to three hours. In 3% of cases, money can remain in the account for up to a day.

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