In the past two weeks, there has been a significant increase in attempts to steal Russians' personal data by individuals posing as "employees of energy supply companies." According to Andrey Biichuk, product director of the "Defender" service at MTS, fraudsters are using a scheme to convince their victims to replace their meters.
Biichuk expressed concern about the increase in such fraudulent activities. In the past two weeks, the number of such calls has doubled compared to the same period in September and October.
Previously, fraudsters had already used the meter scheme, but now there is a new wave of such cases.
[Fraudsters] exert pressure, offering to agree to a free replacement right now, and make it clear that otherwise you will have to pay for this service later. They guarantee that the replacement will be free, but for this you allegedly need to join an online queue.
Fraudsters become active during periods when real employees of utility services may call citizens. This leads to confusion.
The deception scheme involves informing the victim that about a month ago they were sent a message about the need to replace the meters.
The victim, who agrees to replace the meter, is asked to provide the number that comes in the SMS. In fact, this is the code from the Gosuslugi account. Biichuk warned that fraudsters can not only deceive with the meter number, but also demand personal data — passport data, TIN, SNILS. He admitted that they manage to convince their victims that this is common practice.
Earlier, www1.ru warned that internet fraudsters have become more active before "Black Friday" in Russia. During the sales period, attackers create websites that look like the stores of well-known companies. Misled users enter their data for purchases, and fraudsters gain access to accounts, passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal information.
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