The expert named the most popular schemes of bank scams

In the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, there are over 1.5 thousand fraudulent websites disguised as legitimate banks and branches of well-known financial organizations. In 2024, the damage from their activities exceeded 15 billion rubles. Yaroslav Ostudin, an entrepreneur, owner of a bank and insurance company, an expert on investments and financial risks, told about this on August 26.

Scammers often pose as the customer support service of the bank where the potential victim has an account, Ostudin said. They may have stolen or stolen personal data in their hands, and sometimes scammers work "cold", posing as a representative of any major bank and then "how the card fits." It was not possible to cheat the first time — after a while, a new operator calls on behalf of another bank, based on the data received on the first phone call.

"Scammers are excellent psychologists, with a "victim" they always put pressure on the most expensive, and for many citizens these are bank cards and deposits opened in an online bank. This is what scammers use, trying to hack into a bank's personal account or impose an unnecessary loan with an exorbitant interest rate," Ostudin said.

For example, scammers say that suspicious transactions have been recorded on the card, and additional identity verification (verification) is required to confirm the identity. Or, as a privileged client, they offer extremely favorable credit conditions.

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"If you hear on the other side of the call that a person is talking to you quickly, continuously and raises his voice to your clarifying questions, then you can immediately hang up the phone. You can also always call the bank's hotline back and find out if a bank employee has called you right now. Since all calls are recorded. They also drive the "victim" into a state of stress and panic when talking, and when a person is in a panic, we all know that you can do a lot of unnecessary emotional actions," said the entrepreneur.

Special attention should be paid to pseudo-employees of regulatory services: the Federal Security Service, Roskomnadzor or their voice bots. As Ostudin clarified, the brain perceives this as something scary, big, and if they call from these departments, then something is definitely serious. Although in fact it's just a psychological trap.

No less often, scammers like to introduce themselves as an employee of the Central Bank (CBR), Public Services. For example, last year, a pensioner from Moscow transferred a large amount of money (8 million rubles) to a "courier collector of the Central Bank" after a call about "an attempt to issue a power of attorney to her accounts." And there are thousands of such stories. According to a NAFI study, 68% of Russians automatically trust calls "from the state." And unfortunately, this trust becomes the ground for manipulation.

As you know, a real phone mafia is now unfolding. Call centers from remote regions (for example, Ukraine) They actively use number substitution (+7-900, Moscow) for calls on behalf of the bank's security service. In 90% of cases, the legend includes the requirement to "block the hacked account" through a transfer to a "backup", pressure with threats to block the card for "suspicious transactions" and various manipulations of data from merged databases ("your card ends in 4411").

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"Such Call centers often operate at the expense of financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). Their employees undergo special psychological training, learn to copy the intonations of banking operators and simulate the background noises of the office. And citizens' money goes to support the enemy, and this is fraught with other consequences," Ostudin commented.

However, legends about suspicious transfers in favor of the Ukrainian Armed Forces or loans issued to the victim provoke instant panic and disable critical thinking. Scammers skillfully exploit the fears of citizens, the expert emphasizes. They threaten with sanctions for alleged violations and loss of control over finances.

And another popular way is to create clones of the largest federal (Sberbank, VTB, T-Bank) and regional banks with identical designs and spoof domains (sberbnk.ru , vtb-bank.su ) to steal citizens' data through phishing input forms.

"It is possible to distinguish a fake even with the naked eye, it is enough to pay attention to the so-called "red flags". First, be careful if you don't see the green Security Certificate (SSL certificate) icon, which confirms that the resource is reliable. Secondly, if you see typos, extra characters, or Cyrillic characters in the website URL, it means that you are on a phishing site. Thirdly, aggressive "stocks" with promises of unrealistic interest rates also belong here. And the fourth is the lack of a license from the Central Bank. If her number is not specified or is not checked for cbr.ru They are trying to deceive you," Ostudin concluded.

Earlier, on August 23, it was reported that the attackers began using a new two-stage deception scheme to steal money from Russians. The victim is contacted by scammers disguised as an employee of a telecommunications company, who offers to switch to an alternative line with the number saved. After receiving the consent, the interlocutor promises to prepare and send the necessary documents.

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