The Interior Ministry warned about the extortion of money under the pretext of paying duties

The scammers began to extort money under the pretext of paying customs duties. On April 9, the Department for the Organization of the fight against the illegal use of information and communication technologies (UBK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation warned about this.

"In fraudulent schemes on marketplaces or when trading through numerous telegram channels, one of the most popular pretexts for luring additional funds from citizens is the need to pay "customs duties," the management's Telegram channel says.

UBK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation published an example of a fake document from the Federal Customs Service (FCS), which states that it is necessary to pay 25 thousand rubles — 14 thousand rubles to the agent's commission and 11 thousand rubles to the transport company. This is contrary to the law.

The Interior Ministry clarified that, according to the Customs Code of the Russian Federation, duties are levied only if duty-free limits are exceeded. For express delivery or Russian Post, this limit is €200 and 31 kg per order. The fee can be paid online or upon receipt of the parcel.

The ministry stressed that organizations, individuals, and companies have no legal right to demand payment of customs duties or fees from individuals.

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On April 8, the Roskachestvo Center for Digital Expertise reported that cloning an account on social networks is one of the ways fraudsters use to steal personal data. Sometimes the attackers themselves get in touch and demand money, threatening to use the clone to deceive. Experts recommended periodically checking your profile for a double.