Economist Belyaev told how to protect yourself from telephone scammers: don’t be rude

“It’s better to stop talking right away.”

Employees of one of the Russian state banks helped a client save 160 million rubles from telephone scammers. When the Russian came to the office to withdraw cash, the manager suspected that he was under the influence of third parties. The information was passed on to security staff, who told the client about typical behavior scenarios of fraudsters.

According to a man who almost lost a huge amount of money, he received a call from someone who introduced himself as a “bank security officer.” This someone said: since your personal account has been hacked, in order to save your funds, you need to cash them out and transfer them to a “safe” account. The victim was then contacted by ostensible “law enforcement officials.” They gave instructions to purchase a new mobile phone and SIM card to continue communication, allegedly with the aim of detaining the attackers. After the scam was discovered, the organizers stopped contact and deleted the correspondence in the messenger. We talked with Candidate of Economic Sciences, financial analyst Mikhail Belyaev about how common these types of situations are in Russia, and how to avoid getting into them.

“The scheme of transferring money to a “safe account” because of some fictitious threat dominates among all the tricks used,” says MK’s interlocutor. – Some people are informed that a loan has been issued for them, others – that a certain amount has disappeared from their bank card. The scenarios are trivial, long known, but still quite effective. However, in this case, cyber fraudsters should not have asked the person to go to the bank for cash; this was a clear mistake on their part. Apparently, in their naivety, they decided that this would be more reliable than transferring funds through electronic channels. But it is clear that the client came to the office for a reason to withdraw no less than 160 million rubles, all that is in the account. And that there they can, at a minimum, ask him: “For what purpose?”

– But where do scammers get information about the presence of a certain amount in the account of this or that person?

– There is no 100% banking confidentiality. Some databases are circulating on the Internet, but a more likely option is insider information. Some banks may well have “moles” who leak it to criminals for a certain bribe. Imagine, some bank employee, a guy of 20-22 years old, knows that someone has 160 million in their account. Why not sell it “outside,” say, for 1 million rubles? Moreover, the risk of being exposed is negligible. After all, it is not necessary to transmit information via electronic channels; you can at least write it on a piece of paper and put it in a hollow.

– And yet, how to protect yourself from getting into this kind of bind?

– The first recommendation is that you don’t need to tell the caller anything: you either immediately end the conversation (which is preferable) or limit yourself to the phrase: “Thank you, I don’t need your services.” These people use certain techniques of suggestion. They should also not be rude or rude, since they will quickly figure you out by your number and take revenge in a sophisticated way. Secondly, if possible, do not keep large amounts of money on your debit card. Only on deposit. Thirdly, if you want to insure your funds, then you should enter into an agreement with the bank, according to which you will receive SMS alerts about each transaction. This service is quite inexpensive.