Experts warned Russians about increased fraudulent activity before March 8.

As March 8th approaches, scammers are becoming more active. They create false dating offers, send malicious greeting pictures on social networks and messages about sales. This follows from VTB's data, which was reviewed by Izvestia on March 7.

The credit institution said that scammers create a fake profile on a dating site or in an application, where they use attractive photos and fictitious data. When communicating with women, they try to build trust, and then come up with various "problems" that require financial assistance. Gullible female interlocutors transfer money to scammers. At the same time, attackers always find excuses why they can't meet in reality, which allows them to continue manipulating.

Another scheme is flower delivery. The women get a call and are informed about an allegedly ordered flower delivery in their name. To receive a bouquet, they are asked to name the delivery address and the code from the SMS message, which turns out to be from logging into the personal account of the gosportal or the banking application, the experts noted.

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In addition, scammers send malicious greeting cards. When opening the file, a malicious program is downloaded to the device, which allows attackers to gain access to control the victim's smartphone, the bank explained.

Russians can also receive phishing emails with alleged gifts using a promo code. These links often lead to fake marketplace pages, where they ask for personal and payment information or other information to receive a fake promo code.

"Such schemes work all year round, but they are especially actively used during the holiday season, when people are more receptive to gift offers. At the same time, both women and men can become victims of scammers — the latter often become the target of scammers while searching for gifts for their loved ones. It is important to maintain critical thinking and carefully check any proposals, even if they look as truthful and relevant as possible," said Dmitry Revyakin, VTB Vice President and Head of the Corporate Interests Protection Department of the Security Department.

He advised not to follow suspicious links, not to share personal data, passwords or financial information with strangers.

At the end of February, Kaspersky Lab told Izvestia that online scammers had begun creating scam resources before the Oscar ceremony to steal data and money from moviegoers. Experts clarified that in order to watch films for free, which were nominated for a prestigious award this year, the attackers asked Network users to perform certain actions and eventually found out payment details.