Experts from Angara Security have recorded an increase in fraudulent schemes in Telegram related to the payment of housing and communal services. Attackers disguise their bots as official services of management companies and use news about the transition of regions to a unified electronic payment document (EPD) to lure personal data and money from users.
Initially, the project to digitize payment documents, implemented through "Gosuslugi" and regional portals, was conceived as a way to make paying for housing and communal services more convenient and reliable. However, fraudsters quickly adapted to the new conditions.
According to Angara Security, back in August they began distributing phishing Telegram bots promising "everything for managing the house" - from transmitting meter readings to receiving applications to the dispatch service.
Victims receive personal messages on behalf of management companies asking to "clarify the data", or mailings allegedly from the chairmen of homeowners associations and housing cooperatives. Sometimes, fraudsters launch discussions in local chats, where, on behalf of "ordinary residents", they advise "a convenient bot for payment". As a result, the person is asked to follow the link, indicate the address, phone number and enter the confirmation code. This data immediately goes to the attackers.
Experts emphasize that real management companies and homeowners associations do not send mass messages in messengers and never request personal data or codes from SMS.
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