Common fraudulent schemes to deceive children are named
Fraudsters use social engineering methods to intimidate minors or trick them into handing over access to their parents' funds, VTB said. The credit organization specified that there is an increase in such cases, and also named several schemes of attackers. "Izvestia" got acquainted with the information of the Bank on January 22.
One of the schemes is intimidation through calls. Swindlers call the child, introducing themselves as police officers, security service or other organizations, and report an "emergency situation". For example, they claim that parents are in danger and demand urgent money transfers.
Another common scam involves gaming. Fraudsters create fake promotions or winnings in online games and ask to enter bank card details to receive the "prize". The scheme is also actively used when children are offered to buy game currency, for example, in Roblox. Minors take the money from home and give it to the attackers.
In addition, con artists, under the pretext of protection or assistance, ask the child to install remote access programs that allow them to gain control over the parents' smartphone and their banking applications.
The credit organization recommended explaining to children that it is not allowed to comply with the demands of strangers, transfer card data or install applications. It also advised to use parental control: set up access restrictions on the child's mobile devices. Along with this, you can connect notifications in the online bank to respond to suspicious transactions.
The bank also added that it is necessary to teach the child how to act in case of suspicious calls, to specify phone numbers where the minor can contact his parents or other relatives. In addition, it is worth telling him that in the case of a threat from strangers, you should definitely contact your parents or other close people.
"Every year the methods of scammers are becoming more sophisticated, and they have begun to actively use the gullibility of children to achieve their goals. It is important that parents pay attention not only to their own financial security, but also to teaching their children basic rules of digital hygiene. Only through joint efforts can we reduce the risks of fraud," emphasized Dmitry Revyakin, VTB Vice President, Head of the Corporate Interest Protection Division of the Security Department.
Earlier, on January 20, it was reported that the most frequent scenario of telephone fraud in 2024 was the offer to allegedly extend the contract with the telecom operator. According to Yandex, this scenario accounts for 44% of the total structure of fraudulent calls. Another common scheme is two-stage pressure on the user (20%).
As explained by experts, in the first call the attacker makes it clear to the user that a fraudster is talking to him. After that, a second call is received, allegedly from a bank representative, who offers to secure accounts after the scammer's call.
