The Interior Ministry warned about the danger of online gaming chats for children

A new fraud scheme has been recorded in Russia, in which attackers use thematic groups in messengers to search for victims among children. This was announced on June 17 by 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.

Under the pretext of receiving free game currency, criminals ask the child to complete a number of tasks. In particular, attackers may require you to send screenshots of your parents' phone screen. This way, the scammers find out which bank's applications are installed on the device.

Later, the criminals try to find out the phone number and codes from SMS messages. In some cases, they convince the child to log into the parents' mobile bank on their own and transfer funds to third-party accounts.

To minimize the risks, the agency recommends that parents create a child profile on their devices or install parental control functions. Experts also recommend that you disable the installation of applications from unknown sources and set up a password confirmation for downloading programs.

An additional protection measure is the activation of two-factor authentication in online banks, mail services, and other resources. The UBK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs emphasized that it is important not to provide children with free access to smartphones on which financial applications are installed.

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Intruders play on children's gullibility and fears

On June 13, the Interior Ministry said that fraudsters began to involve teenagers in crimes through the "pioneer syndrome." When a fraudster calls and says that he needs to complete a task from the security authorities or the police, the child's "reflex of helping the state" is triggered.