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- Penalty for inattention: the abandoned website of "Rosplatezh" became a tool for stealing money
Penalty for inattention: the abandoned website of "Rosplatezh" became a tool for stealing money
Scammers in Runet have begun to disguise phishing sites as the "Rospayment" service, a long-abandoned project from the 2010s. Through these resources, potential victims are offered to pay taxes on fake winnings, which in fact threatens to lose money. Details on why the fraudsters remembered about the closed "Rosplatezh", how dangerous it is and how to protect yourself from such threats, read in the material "Izvestia".
What is the service "Rosplatezh"
"Rosppaytezh" was conceived as an online service to pay traffic police fines, debts of the Federal Tax Service and the Federal Service for Supervision of Public Prosecution. It was launched in the mid-2010s. The resource worked with several external systems: it received information from the Federal Treasury's GIS GMP information system, provided an opportunity to pay fines through a special authorized bank, and interacted with an external payment aggregator for convenience in selecting a payment method.
The developer of the site "Rospitezh" was the company SPOT Digital - today its post in the social network VK about the creation of the resource, dated November 14, 2014, is one of the few mentions of the service that can be found on the Web. As SPOT Digital told Izvestia, the site of "Rospayment" was successfully handed over to the customer - but the latter abandoned it after a couple of years. As a result, back in the mid-2010s, the service fell into oblivion.
- We haven't heard anything about Rosplatezh for many years, but about six months ago we started getting calls from people who had been scammed by fraudsters," the developers said. - They said they had been scammed on behalf of Rosplatezh and wanted to return the stolen money, and all the victims could find about the service was our VK post from 11 years ago.
What schemes with "Rosplatezh" came up with fraudsters
As Angara SOC experts told Izvestia, fraudsters began to use schemes in Runet with the mention of "Rosplatezh" since September 2024. Phishing pages were disguised as drawings of famous brands, and messages about "winnings" came to potential victims by mail or in personal messages of accounts in messengers and social networks.
- Fraudsters informed that in order to receive the winnings it was necessary to pay tax or convert the winnings (if the amount was not in rubles)," the experts said. - For this purpose, the user was redirected to a fake phishing service, which was designed under "Rospayment". As a result of such actions, fraudsters received amounts of one-time payments from 300 to 6 thousand rubles.
According to Victoria Varlamova, head of brand protection department of Angara SOC, all domains (more than 30 sites) were located in the .shop zone and were accompanied by the logo of "Rospayment". The payment amount included a commission, and the page contained the account number and technical support phone number. It was often difficult for users to recognize phishing. The only thing that could lead to suspicion was a direct transfer to a card when making a payment.
Why the Rosplattezh service attracted the attention of attackers
According to the general director of the financial marketplace "Vyberu. ru" Grigory Burden says in a conversation with "Izvestia".ru" Grigory Burdenko, in cases with "Rosplattezh" fraudsters used a complex approach to deceive compatriots: they not only used "Ros" in the name as a language technique to convince the audience in the reliability of the fake service, but also actively used the scheme in the fall period, when, on the one hand, Russians actively pay taxes before December 1, and on the other hand - make purchases at sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- In fact, the target audience of the fraudulent scheme with "Rospayment" is quite extensive - unfortunately, even an experienced person with an impressive financial background can become a victim of attackers today," says the expert.
According to Grigory Burdenko, first of all, people who actively make purchases on the Internet and are looking for ways to save money may be in the crosshairs of swindlers. Also, if we talk about references to "government services" in fraudulent schemes, they are often used against public sector employees and civil servants.
What are the dangers of fraudulent schemes involving the "Rospayment" service?
Fraudulent schemes with the mention of "Rosplatezh" are dangerous first of all due to financial losses for potential victims, says Marina Probets, Internet analyst and expert of the company "Gazinformservice". Users misled by phishing sites may voluntarily provide fraudsters with their data, including card numbers, CVC codes and personal information, believing they are paying tax to receive a win.
- As a result, money may be deducted from their accounts and personal details used for further activities, including identity theft and other types of financial fraud," the expert explains.
Information about more than 30 phishing sites disguised as "Rospayment", specialists of the brand protection department of Angara SOC within the established interaction transferred to the National Coordination Center for Computer Incidents, which helped to quickly block them. Unfortunately, however, this does not mean that such phishing resources will not appear again in the future.
As Evgeny Altovsky, a member of the board of the Information for All OD, says in a conversation with Izvestia, "Rospayment" in fraud schemes is needed only to attract the victim's attention and to build up his trust. The attackers then appeal to traditional human passions that have existed since prehistoric times: greed, avarice, belief in miracles, which helps to disable the victim's critical thinking.
- Meanwhile, it is enough to remember that there are no miracles in real life: if you did not buy a lottery ticket, you could not win the lottery, - emphasizes the expert.
The emergence of another technique of deception is largely due to the rapid growth of information and communication technologies, says Evgeny Altovsky. There are new ways of remote trade and payment, public services are transferred into electronic form, communication between people is becoming more and more virtual, and in this increasing flow of electronic information is not immediately able to recognize fraudsters.
How to protect yourself from fraudulent schemes with the "Rospayment" service
Cybersecurity experts advise to be cautious about messages about winning in promotions, lotteries or similar events, do not follow links from personal messages from unknown contacts, as well as from acquaintances, for whom it is unusual to send such messages and publish links in their social networks.
- You can always check the draw on behalf of the brand on the official website of the company or check with the support service, - Angara SOC experts note.
Marina Probets adds that in order to protect yourself from such fraudulent schemes, you need to be vigilant and critical thinking. In addition, carefully read all terms and conditions and information on the site before making a payment. Don't click on links from suspicious emails or messages. And, of course, use reliable anti-virus programs and firewalls, as well as two-factor authentication to protect your accounts and payment data.
If you unexpectedly receive news about some "winnings", you should wait until the first wave of joy subsides, says Evgeny Altovsky. Then questions will inevitably arise - for example, "Why did I win if I did not participate in the lottery?" or "Why should I take the "winnings" right now and not a day later?". As soon as a person asks himself these questions, one of the already known fraud schemes will reveal itself to him, the expert concludes.
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