A cybersecurity expert explained who is behind the scary SMS messages calling for a terrorist attack.

After the terrorist attack at Crocus, teenagers in the Moscow region began to receive messages on their phones en masse with offers to commit an explosion, arson, or other illegal act for a reward, otherwise the authors of the terrible messages promised to deal with the child’s relatives. “MK” figured out how to counter this new threat and protect yourself and your loved ones.

According to cybersecurity expert, General Director of ANO PravoRobotov Nikita Kulikov, spam messages with an offer to commit a terrorist attack for a reward are sent by the same call centers that until recently were engaged in telephone fraud.

“They were simply given a new manual, so they are practicing it, terrorizing the population of Russia,” says the cybersecurity expert.

He has no doubt that the mailing, as well as calls from imaginary employees of the Central Bank, are carried out from the territory of Ukraine. Only at first the targets of financial scammers were pensioners, but now telephone criminals have switched to children. Both age groups are easily suggestible, and children are also curious and prone to adventure.

“In fact, criminals don’t care who they process, as long as the person is suggestible, and gender or age don’t matter,” says Kulikov.

Why is all this being done? To intimidate, sow panic, create social tension in our society. The text of some messages that schoolchildren receive look completely absurd. For example: “Pick up the phone immediately, you need to carry out a terrorist attack where you are, we will provide you with everything you need. Then you will receive a reward.”

“Most people, after reading such a text, will say: what kind of nonsense?! They will erase the SMS and forget about it in a minute. But there can always be an anxious, insecure person who will think – how do they know where I am now? Are they following me? Such a person may submit to the demands of criminals out of fear that he or his relatives are in danger. In general, the technology is the same as with bank cards. A hundred or a thousand people will simply send a telephone scammer to hell with his stories about how their account was hacked, that the money was transferred, and the only way out is to take out a loan, and so on. But one in a thousand will believe him and will do everything he tells him,” explains the expert.

According to him, spam mailings by telephone scammers or terrorists contain tens of thousands of addresses, and maybe hundreds; out of such a mass of people, there will always be several people with a suitable anxious, suggestible psychotype who will respond and come into contact with the unknown author of the terrible SMS. But under no circumstances should this be done.

“Explain to your child that once he starts texting, even as a joke or out of curiosity, the psychological impact of criminals can increase several times over. Professional psychologists work with them, they are fluent in the most advanced social influence technologies and, in addition, they have prepared a dossier for each subscriber of the telephone base to which they call or send messages. They collect this personal data from social networks; most often, people themselves share photos of family and friends on their accounts,

talk about their travels, work, hobbies. In the hands of a skilled manipulator, these facts can make a strong impression on the victim of a criminal plot. He may believe that the enemy secret services are watching him, that they know everything about him and his family, and that if he does not obey them, they will deal with his loved ones,” says Kulikov.

So what to do? How to protect yourself and your child from telephone scammers and terrorists?

You should never answer calls and messages from unknown numbers, the specialist advises. If you receive a message asking you to commit illegal actions, immediately block the phone number from which it came. You can report terrorist spam to law enforcement agencies or Roskomnadzor. And most importantly, you need to trust only close, dear people, so there should be no secrets between parents and children, especially in our difficult, troubling times.