MegaFon Director of Fraud and Revenue Prevention, Sergei Khrenov, said that at the end of January in Russia, the number of fraudulent jokes on instant messengers increased exponentially. Transmits words DEA News.
As the expert points out, scammers have used similar mechanisms before, but now reports of fake pranks are common.
According to Khrenov, attackers send a message to email or instant messengers with an offer to participate in a big brand’s giveaway. The user is presented with three attempts to guess which game cell the prize is in, which only opens at the last chance to ensure reliability.
The expert explained that to motivate participation, scammers “draw” prizes in foreign currency, and after winning they offer to convert the prize into rubles for a minimum amount. The attackers get the victim’s money, card details and access to them after entering the bank details and confirming the operation.
Igor Bederov, formerly Head of Information and Analytics Research at T.Hunter knowledgeable socialbites.ca said telephone terrorists began calling Russians via instant messengers and scaring them with pardoned members of Wagner PMC.
According to him, calls mostly come via instant messengers WhatsApp and Viber. The callers masquerade as police officers and warn that “prisoners pardoned after Wagner joined the SVO as part of the PMC could pose a danger to children.”