Meeting with fire: what to expect from scammers on New Year's Eve
In the run-up to the New Year, scammers have started using a new scenario of fake news about social payments. This is just one of many threats in cyberspace ahead of the winter holidays. Details on how scammers are preparing for the New Year - 2025 and how to protect yourself from their schemes, read in the material "Izvestia".
How fraudsters use the theme of social payments for the New Year
The analysts of the company F.A.C.C.T. told Izvestia that on the eve of the New Year fraudsters began to use a new scenario of fake news about social payments. Attackers spread such fakes to attract traffic to other fraudulent schemes, including cryptoscam.
- Previously, links from such fake messages led to phishing pages where you were asked to enter your bank card details," the experts said. - Now a more convoluted scheme with Telegram bots is used. While the user is looking for details about payments, he is offered to subscribe to a number of Telegram channels.
According to F.A.C.C.T., these channels have been publishing publicly known reliable information about social support measures for Russian residents for almost a year. However, in recent weeks they have been printing fakes about New Year's Eve payments. Links from these fakes lead to messages from cryptoscammers who offer to increase their investments hundreds of times and transfer their investments to a bank card. Each of these channels has several tens of thousands of subscribers.
As experts note, over the past month, tens of thousands of users could use bots in these channels - potentially all of them can become victims of fraudsters. In addition, even if a person does not react to fake news and does not click on the links offered, immediately after subscribing, attackers receive data about him and his account, and can later use this information for other cyberattacks.
What attracts scammers to New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is the time of presents, and almost every family buys them, which means that the number of potential victims of scammers reaches millions of people, says Alexandra Shmigirilova, GR-director of the IS company Security Code, in a conversation with Izvestia. In addition, purchases are often made in a hurry, many people postpone the issue of gifts to the very deadline, which inevitably reduces caution and vigilance.
- This confusion is used by fraudsters who attract users with goods at a small price and promises of fast delivery, - says the expert. - Also during the New Year vacations a special place is occupied by the issues of entertainment and travel: many people are engaged in planning trips from October-November.
However, as Alexandra Shmigirilova notes, those who put off buying tickets and booking hotels until the last moment have a hard time: all interesting places are already occupied, tickets are unavailable or very expensive, and in an attempt to have time, potential buyers grab any offers that are kindly thrown to them by swindlers.
According to Dmitry Ovchinnikov, head of the Laboratory for Strategic Development of Cybersecurity Products at the Analytical Center for Cybersecurity "Gazinformservice", in previous years, schemes with urgent money transfers to relatives on an unknown card (2022), as well as schemes with phishing sites of marketplaces and large stores (2023) were recorded on the eve of the holidays.
- There are known cases when fraudsters sold fake or overbought tickets to New Year's events, gift certificates, bonuses and vouchers," says Vitaly Fomin, head of the group of information security analysts at the League of Digital Economy. - In addition, attackers "rented out" non-existent or already rented accommodation for New Year's vacations. In this case, they demanded an advance payment, after which they disappeared.
What fraudulent schemes should be expected on the eve of 2025?
On the eve of 2025, attackers will continue to improve their schemes, using neural networks and other modern technologies, says Vitaly Fomin. For example, they will be able to impersonate representatives of companies and government agencies even more convincingly.
- Fraudulent schemes will be spread through messengers and social networks," says the Izvestia interlocutor. - In this way, the scammers gain access to confidential data, including bank details and information for logging into an account on "Gosuslugi", which may allow them to take out a loan in someone else's name.
As the expert notes, a particular danger before the winter holidays are fraudulent schemes in which attackers imitate the identity of another person: fake voice or image. In turn, Dmitry Ovchinnikov notes that on the eve of 2025 we should expect cases of fraud associated with sending phishing links to fake sites of large trading platforms and marketplaces.
In particular, before the winter holidays, attackers can use such informational occasions as prize drawings, cashback, delivery confirmation, large discounts and getting a promo code for them. And in terms of promo codes "with a catch" should be wary of links in search engines, as the owners of search engines do not always have time to instantly block fraudulent sites.
- All the schemes used earlier will be relevant, as the excitement and the reduction of attention and caution always lead to the fact that people succumb to the tricks of fraudsters - emphasizes Alexandra Shmigirilova. - Besides, people are used to resting on holidays and may not notice that a large sum of money has been withdrawn from their account or access to any service has been lost.
At the same time, most government agencies do not work, which also imposes additional difficulties. For example, you will have to find a working branch of the bank to write a statement about the loss of money, says the expert.
How to protect yourself from fraud schemes before the New Year
In order to protect themselves from "New Year" fraud schemes, experts interviewed by Izvestia advise to observe a number of security rules. In particular, Maria Mikhailova, Angara SOC brand protection expert, advises to be extremely attentive and to treat all suspicious offers as critically as possible.
- Check the domain name and URL of sites, especially if it is about entering personal data, - recommends the expert. - Ignore "too good to be true" offers, such as incredibly low prices or promises of big wins.
According to Maria Mikhailova, it is important not to follow links from unfamiliar sources and enter website addresses directly in the browser, as well as use anti-virus programs on all devices. In turn, Alexandra Shmigirilova urges not to hurry with purchases or bookings: first you need to find out why a product or service is much cheaper, whether there are reviews and how many of them.
In addition, it is important to make purchases only on proven resources: large marketplaces and online stores through specialized applications from Rustore, App Store and Google Play. According to the expert, to realize that you are on a suspicious site, pay attention to characteristic details. In particular, the excessive amount of requested data, demands to download an additional file or software can make you suspicious.
- You should check the resource especially carefully if it is not a large online store or a well-known booking site, - says Alexandra Shmigirilova. - And, of course, it is very important from whom the link is received.
Even links from friends should be treated extremely carefully, paying attention to how typical their behavior and communication style is. Also, to protect against scammers should be a separate bank card for purchases and keep a minimum amount of money on it - so you can minimize the damage in case of a successful fraudulent attack, the expert concludes.
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