Fraudsters use social engineering to steal accounts in messengers and social networks: they study victims' personal pages, and then build a scheme so that the person themselves gives out the data. TASS was informed about this by the press center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

To protect personal accounts, the department recommends using two-factor authentication, never transferring SMS codes to third parties, and creating a separate complex password for each online service.

You should also delete unused accounts, having previously ended all active sessions on third-party resources. An antivirus with a web protection function should be installed on all devices, which will timely detect attempts to go to fraudulent sites.

A separate measure is to disable automatic file downloads in messengers. Attackers can send malicious programs disguised as photos or updates, and automation allows them to get onto the device without verification. Adherence to these rules reduces the risk of hacking and data theft.