“They will never talk about injury and death over the phone”: scammers reached the relatives of SVO participants

Experts advise first of all to listen to the background of a telephone conversation

Telephone scammers have reached the relatives of military personnel participating in the Military Military District. They tell them fictitious stories to extort money and steal personal data. Law enforcement agencies warned residents of the Moscow region about a new scheme to deceive citizens.

“Criminals can call in the middle of the night under the guise of volunteers and inform the victim of deception that a person close to him has been captured and an urgent need to raise a large sum for his ransom. Or even worse – they talk about the death of a relative who is now in the Northern Military District, and ask to transfer money to transport the body to their homeland. Another way to lure out money is to lie about the fact that a serviceman is supposedly wounded and urgently needs to pay for his treatment,” say the Main Directorate of Regional Security of the Moscow Region.

What to do in such a situation? First of all, do not lose your presence of mind, remain calm. If possible, you need to contact the serviceman yourself. However, under no circumstances should you provide personal information and financial data over the phone, especially if the call comes from an unfamiliar number, GURB employees advise.

Typically, scammers call from large call centers, where several operators sit in one room at once. They work with headphones, so they don’t hear the background, the muttering of the same scammers, but the person on the other end of the line hears it. Therefore, you need to be wary immediately. Another sign of telephone fraud is the preliminary ringing of a number when, after connecting, the receiver is empty. They checked the phone number to see if it was valid or not. In any case, experts do not advise answering calls from unfamiliar numbers and remember that no one will ever tell relatives information about the death, injury or captivity of a soldier over the phone. Only scammers do this.

For those who have already become their victims and provided them with their personal or financial data, experts advise immediately contacting their bank, telling them about what happened and blocking the account. In addition, you should write a statement to the police.