The risk of phishing attacks increased due to the discount season, Russians were warned 04:00

With the sale season approaching, the possibility of phishing attacks has increased. RuStore’s director of information security, Dmitry Morev, warned in an interview with socialbites.ca that fraudsters often issue fake financial applications for loans or payments, online banking and popular applications with a wide audience.

“A phishing app may not reveal itself immediately; it often quietly collects credentials and personal information by spying on user activities. For example, when a smartphone owner enters debit card information to pay for purchases, malware can capture that information and pass it on to attackers. This allows the user to “It means that he loses access to his financial resources and may not even learn about the leak right away,” he explained.

Fake applications can be distributed in various ways: through dubious websites, advertisements inside other applications, and fake pages on social networks and instant messengers. For example, during sales season, attackers posing as sellers can send customers links to phishing pages through an app intended to track purchases. When downloading such an application, the user’s device becomes infected with a Trojan or other dangerous viruses.

One particularly popular method is for scammers to create fake accounts that mimic official bank pages and send messages encouraging them to install or update a mobile app using a link.

“Such messages often look like urgent notifications from a bank or popular service asking you to download an app or update the current version. If you receive a similar message on social networks, pay attention to the presence of verification with a check mark next to the page name. The absence of such a sign is a clear sign of fraud. Block such a sender and report it to bank representatives to prevent further spread of malware,” Morev added.

You can recognize a fake banking app from several key features. As Dmitry Morev noted, the following features may indicate danger: incorrect characters or minor distortions in the application name; logo and interface that do not match the corporate style of the real service; strange functionality that is not typical for the original application; Unnatural low quality images or graphics.

“Even small errors or inconsistencies can indicate a fake. If you notice something like this, it is better to immediately refuse the installation and check the application on the bank’s official website or in official app stores,” said the expert.

If your device is infected with a malicious application, the expert advises you not to hesitate and take some precautions: Remove the application immediately after detection; Run an antivirus scan to check your device for other threats; change all important passwords, especially for banking, payment services and marketplaces; Contact your bank to reissue debit cards and suspend any suspicious transactions.

“Do not allow malicious apps to use the device’s system functions, such as reading SMS or accessing contacts. The expert stated that timely measures will prevent loss of funds and data leakage.

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