The State Duma talked about a new WhatsApp fraud scheme

Responsibility for the actions of scammers who offer to rent an account in the WhatsApp messenger (owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) may fall on their owners. This was announced on March 6 by Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, federal coordinator of the Digital Russia party project.

"It may take a long time before a person proves that he has nothing to do with this illegal activity. And the victim will definitely not receive the promised money: after reaching the goal, the scammers simply switch to searching for new victims," he said in an interview with RT.

According to Nemkin, the main danger of such fraud is that after transferring access, fraudsters get the opportunity to send spam, as well as extort money from the victim's contacts or use the account to apply for loans.

He noted that if the number is linked to a banking application, fraudsters are able to take over the owner's financial management. So the victim may even face legal problems.

To prevent such situations, it is not recommended to transfer your accounts in messengers, as well as SIM cards to third parties. In addition, it is important to enable two-factor authentication in applications, Nemkin added.

You'll show him a copper penny: scammers deceive Russians with promises of easy money

The most dangerous malicious schemes of recent times have been named

Andrey Biychuk, director of the MTS Defender product, announced on March 6 a new fraudulent scheme in which it is proposed to rent a WhatsApp account for 200 rubles a day. According to him, the attackers place ads about the possibility of renting a room in Telegram channels, forums and job sites. After confirming the lease from the owner's number, they begin to write to his friends asking them to lend or transfer money.