VTB warned about a new method of fraud involving the "verification" of bank cards

Fraudsters have come up with a new way to steal funds when "checking" bank cards. This was announced on May 23 by Dmitry Revyakin, Vice President of VTB Bank and Head of the Corporate Interests Protection Department of the Security Department.

According to him, the attackers, posing as employees of banks or law enforcement agencies, convince citizens to name the PIN code from the card and hand it over to a fake courier who allegedly arrives to verify the authenticity of the payment account. As a result, victims not only lose money, but also become unwitting intermediaries (drops) in withdrawing money from other victims.

"When you hand over the card to the bank's courier and send the SMS codes, you are not just risking your money, but unwittingly becoming a link in a criminal scheme. Fraudsters deliberately choose tactics so that the victim, unknowingly, participates in cashing out the funds of other victims. If a bank card is compromised, it should be blocked immediately," Revyakin said.

He stressed that the demand for drops from fraudsters remains consistently high, so efficiency in this case will help prevent unauthorized use of funds.

"The banking market is actively working to complicate dropper activities. VTB uses a variety of methods to combat them, including monitoring transactions in real time, using analytical tools, and interacting with law enforcement agencies and other banks," said the VTB Vice president.

It is specified that last year more than 148 thousand droppers were identified — 5.5 times more than in 2023. At the same time, over 380 million rubles were returned to the victims from the accounts of the drops in two years, he said.

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On May 12, the Department for Combating the Illegal Use of Information and Communication Technologies (UBK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation reported that fraudsters disguised as buyers could steal bank card data by offering to pay for goods to the seller through a payment on an allegedly secure website. According to the agency, the information ends up in the hands of intruders when clicking on the link.