Fraudsters deceive Russians in the virtual world. What you need to know
Recently, criminals have been actively using the virtual world to steal the real savings of Russians. Most often they look for potential victims in online games and social networks. And both teenagers and adults are at risk. What fraudulent schemes are most common and how to protect themselves and their loved ones - in the material "Izvestia".
How to steal funds in games
- On gamer resources you can encounter a huge number of scammers who deceive users with in-game currencies and lure by pumping skills (a set of game abilities of the character or the skill of the player himself). Most often, such criminals seek victims among minors.
- For example, criminals contact a child and offer in-game currency or other virtual benefits for a simple challenge. For example, take the parent's phone, log into mobile banking, see the balance and either transfer all the money at once, or first get an online loan and transfer the funds received.
- Nowadays, the online game Roblox is very popular among children between six and 12 years old. It is in it that the most high-profile cases of robberies in different Russian cities have recently occurred. Gamers have their own game currency, and this is used by scammers.
- In Roblox criminals most often offer children to perform tasks for the sake of buying or creating virtual heroes and objects, which includes the transfer of bank card numbers and pin codes of parents.
- Young gamers are often persuaded to leave the game platform and go, for example, to a messenger or phishing portal. In addition, a child may receive a mailing on behalf of the administration of the gaming platform. In such emails, fraudsters may offer the child some secret versions of the game.
- Criminals also periodically upload infected game applications to file-sharing sites. These can be viruses that compute information on the device. There are also malicious apps that monitor the user's actions to gather as much information as possible for future use.
- Victims' losses range from tens to hundreds of thousands of rubles. For example, in January, a nine-year-old schoolboy in Moscow transferred 900,000 rubles from his mother's bank card to fraudsters in an attempt to buy game currency. Criminal cases of fraud are being opened on the trail of crimes, but it is difficult to find the perpetrators.
- If the fraudsters misled the user and tricked him with confidential data, persuaded him to transfer money to their account, it will be problematic to return his funds. The statistics of solving such cases averages 20% annually.
What other fraudulent schemes are popular in the Web
- Recently, scammers have been actively involving minors in withdrawing and cashing stolen money (dropperism). Teenagers as young as 14 years old can get a bank card. Fraudsters promise them easy earnings or deceive them in other ways, as a result of which the "plastic" or account details are handed over by the teenagers to the attackers, who then use them to cover their tracks.
According to the preliminary estimate of Sberbank, in 2024 the Russian economy will lose up to 1 trillion rubles on fraudulent schemes (in particular, cyberattacks, fraudulent calls and data leaks).
- Thus, criminals can distribute advertisements in social networks: ostensibly under the guise of banks, which need to fulfill the "sales plan", offer people to issue any card and pass it to certain persons for a fee, for example, for 3,000 rubles. Then network marketing is included: teenagers are offered another 2 thousand rubles if they bring a friend with a card.
- There are cases when, according to the fraudsters' legend, the victim of the attack needs to withdraw money and hand it over to an alleged "Central Bank representative" for subsequent crediting to a "safe account". Teenagers can also be used as "couriers". At the same time, minors themselves believe that they are simply working for the bank, but in fact they are complicit in the crime.
- Another vector of attacks on schoolchildren is online education. Fraudsters create fake websites and applications masquerading as well-known educational resources to gain access to the data of children and their parents. In addition, schoolchildren are sold fake answers to exams. However, criminals can simply disappear with the money instead. Even if the answers are provided, they may not be correct, leading to failure in the exam.
- In addition, phishing in retail services is extremely popular. Fraudsters try to sell goods through fake marketplaces or cheat on social media transactions.
How else adults are "divorced"
- Social networks have long been one of the favorite platforms for crypto-fraudsters. In personal messages and in the comments under the posts regularly appear scammer ads and offers of investment projects and trading on cryptocurrency exchanges. Here with potential victims, attackers conduct long correspondence, gradually rubbing in the trust.
- Sometimes scammers use blackmail. For example, they inform the victim that they have some personal information that can harm a person's reputation. They may also offer a "guaranteed income". The victim only needs to hand over a certain amount of money in cryptocurrency, which will be doubled or even tripled in a few hours.
- Criminals also create fake job listings. Typically, these "jobs" are related to mining cryptocurrencies and attracting other crypto investors. However, to start working, you need to make a payment in cryptocurrency. Moreover, the scammer may offer that he will process the transfer himself if the victim sends him funds to the cryptocurrency wallet.
- Another of the most popular schemes suggests that a social network user is offered to acquire a cryptocurrency wallet or purchase crypto through a chatbot. Then the scammers give access to a closed group, where you need to invite your friends. At the same time, the group usually already has posts from users who have successfully "earned" on the investment scheme. The result is a classic financial pyramid scheme, the profit from which only the organizers of the scheme receive.
- Recently, criminals have also started sending messages about testing the oncovaccine "Enteromix" allegedly on behalf of employees of the NMRC of Radiology. The criminals offer to participate in the "second stage" of research for money. However, specialists of the center warned that you should not transfer your funds to anyone, as all stages of participation in clinical trials are free of charge.
How to be cheated on the thirst for easy profit
- In addition to stealing money, you can also come across promises of getting rich quick in the virtual world . Hamster Kombat has become one of the most popular mobile games in 2024, offering "real earnings". The app is made on the Telegram platform, its essence was to mine in-game currency with quick taps on the screen and manage funds within the game.
- The price of Hamster coin was $0.004989 on October 7. HMSTR was worth $0.009 when it was listed on Sept. 26 and collapsed 40% to $0.006 in less than a day. However, even these funds were not seen by many because they were blocked by the game for fraud. As a result, players in social networks complained about the summer "killed" on hamster tapping and accused the creators of the application of deception.
- Despite user disappointment, the developers of Hamster Kombat announced a new season, which started in October and will last until the end of March 2025. Similar games with promises of "good earnings" also appeared.
How to protect yourself from scammers
- Parental controls should be installed on the child's gadget. When an adult tries to download the app, they receive a notification and can check the license.
- It is also important not to give children unrestricted access to their bank card. Alternatively, you can issue your child with a separate bank card with a limited limit.
- It is important for parents to explain the safety rules of games to their children and to be aware of the key deception schemes they use.
- Adults themselves need to remember the basic rules of digital hygiene. Never give third parties your personal data, especially banking data, keys and passwords to exchange accounts or cryptocurrency wallets. No legitimate service will ask you for them under any circumstances.
- If you are offered a fast and big income, you are most likely being scammed. Search the web for information about the offer or tell your loved ones about it and ask their opinion. In almost all schemes, scammers rush the victim without giving time to think, claiming that time is limited, often asking not to tell anyone about your conversation with them. In such cases, you should immediately hang up the phone or interrupt the correspondence, think about the situation and consult with your loved ones. It is also worth remembering that officials, whether they are representatives of the Central Bank, the FSB or investigators, will never call a private person by phone.
In preparing the material Izvestia spoke with:
information security expert Alexander Vurasko;
cybersecurity expert Alexander Dvoryansky.
