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- Catching in the net: scammers began to deceive Russians with the help of caviar schemes
Catching in the net: scammers began to deceive Russians with the help of caviar schemes
In the run-up to the New Year holidays, fraudulent schemes involving caviar and other seafood have begun to appear on the Internet, experts have warned. Attackers offer delicacies at low prices, but in fact steal the funds of responding buyers. Details on how network fraudsters use the theme of caviar and seafood for the holiday table, as well as how to protect yourself from such threats, read in the material "Izvestia".
Hot time
As the New Year approaches, many Russians begin to think over the menu for the holiday table - and red caviar invariably takes an honorable place in it. And due to the increased demand the opportunities for fraudsters in this area are expanding, says the GR Director of the IS-company "Security Code" Alexandra Shmigirilova in a conversation with "Izvestia".
- In addition, at this time of year many potential customers are looking for an opportunity to buy all products at a low price and with minimal effort, so online shopping is very popular, and the lure of fraudsters in the form of relatively cheap offers will not confuse users," the expert notes.
Dmitry Ovchinnikov, head of the Laboratory of Strategic Development of Cyber Security Products of the Analytical Center for Cyber Security "Gazinformservice", adds that the rise in the price of red caviar, which over the past year has moved from the category of expensive delicacies to the category of very expensive, also plays into the hands of attackers. And if there is a jump in prices for some popular goods, you can always predict the activity of fraudsters in this direction.
At the same time, despite the rise in price of red caviar, Russians still consider it a necessary component of the holiday table, says the expert. As a result, demand gives birth not only to supply, but also to the information background for committing fraudulent crimes.
- The increase in demand and the rise in the price of such products generates traffic, which fraudsters direct to their Internet resources using social engineering - offering a rich assortment of products and attractive prices," says F.A.C.C.T.'s leading analyst. Digital Risk Protection Eugene Egorov.
Scheme options
According to Alexandra Shmigirilova, the general goal of tricks related to caviar and seafood is to give the buyer the feeling that he is dealing with a real seller and a real store. With the modern level of Internet development, it is easy to make a beautiful picture and fill a website with information, so the main vector of attacks is the creation of a phishing site and then an account in social networks or messengers, which either imitates a real company or simply creates the appearance of a legitimate store.
- The mailings offer a low price for caviar and other seafood for the holiday table, after which the buyer must go to the fake site and enter certain data there - for example, fill in fields with bank card details," says the Izvestia interlocutor.
The expert adds that in recent years the scheme, which has no specialized site - only Telegram-channels - has become particularly popular. Attackers recruit users on such a channel and leave links to it on various forums or - a more complicated variant - distribute the link through hacked users.
In such channels, various variants are possible - for example, a user leaves a comment under some post, he is contacted by a "manager" who finds out what the buyer needs and then sends a link to pay. If the user transfers the money, the fraudster will delete the correspondence and will not contact the user again.
- It is worth noting that such channels have recently reached a qualitative level: various posts are published there, allegedly on behalf of "happy" buyers, including in video format, which makes potential victims even more trustworthy," emphasizes Alexandra Shmigirilova.
Low-quality product
Buying caviar and seafood on the Web, in addition to the risk of simply not getting the goods, also carries the threat of buying spoiled goods, because its storage conditions are unknown, says Evgeny Egorov.
- Schemes with the sale of low-quality caviar and its fakes (imitation) were recorded last year, - says Dmitry Ovchinnikov. - And this year we should expect a standard set of phishing schemes, but with the orientation on delicacy lovers and New Year's fuss.
According to Alexandra Shmigirilova, such schemes are aimed at anyone who wants to buy something online. But mainly their target audience is those who have very limited free time to visit offline stores and those who want to save money on buying products for the New Year's table.
The former are busy people who are willing to pay sometimes even a little more in order not to waste time, which means that they may not check websites or Telegram channels additionally, the expert explains. The second are people with low incomes who are attracted by the opportunity to buy high-quality goods at a low price. They do not think about why such an opportunity has appeared at all and that there may be a trick in it.
- At the same time, it is worth noting that scammers often very competently explain low prices - for example: "We pack the goods near the reservoir", "We have direct suppliers", "The store is private, so there is no network markup" and so on, - says Alexandra Shmigirilova in a conversation with "Izvestia". - In itself, this may be true, but it should be understood that even under such conditions, the price should not be lower by more than 15-20%.
Dmitry Ovchinnikov adds that fraudulent schemes related to caviar and seafood are dangerous because instead of a delicacy can be hacked online bank and steal money. In some cases, fraudsters may ask to install a special application on a smartphone to order at a discount. Over the years of practice, fraudsters have accumulated an extensive arsenal of deceptions and mechanisms - and this should be taken into account, emphasizes the expert.
Defense mechanisms
In order to protect oneself from New Year's Eve fraud schemes, experts interviewed by Izvestia advise to follow a number of security rules. According to Alexandra Shmigirilova, it is most reliable to buy products in trusted places - on the websites of well-known stores and marketplaces.
- If there is a need to buy seafood somewhere other than the specified, you need to check information about this store in other sources, - says the expert. - In other words, you need to look for general information on online resources - for example, on review sites.
If the scheme has already been identified as fraudulent and someone has already faced such situations and lost money, people often share such information to warn others, explains Shmigirilova. It is also not unreasonable to check the site and the store itself - when it was opened, what kind of organization it is, where and how it is registered (information about this is now publicly available).
In turn, Dmitry Ovchinnikov advises not to buy a large number of delicacies at once, but at first make a small (test) purchase and thus check the quality of the goods. If it is not a fake - you can safely order more: this way a person will not fall victim to fraudsters and will not buy fake caviar made of fat, algae and dye.
- When reading about the grandiose discount that awaits you, remember that the extraction of goods and their transportation costs money," the expert notes. - In addition, the goods are specific and will not be stored for a long time, which is why the price is so high.
If the price is set below the market price, this is a direct reason to think about the reason for such a discount. And of course, no one has canceled the standard principles of digital hygiene in the case of online payment of goods, concludes the expert.
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