Fraudsters, masquerading as fortune tellers and psychics, have begun to extort money from women whose husbands are engaged in the special military operation (SMO). This critical information was revealed by researchers at the Roskachestvo Digital Expertise Center.
The criminals actively scour social media platforms dedicated to the SMO, specifically looking for accounts of women whose spouses are serving in the combat zone. Their primary objective is to pinpoint individuals who have publicly shared their phone numbers. Subsequently, posing as mystical advisors, these scammers initiate contact with potential victims. They employ sophisticated social engineering techniques to impress and disarm these women by demonstrating an uncanny knowledge of their personal lives.
Analysts explain that a crucial component of this manipulative tactic is intimidation. The perpetrators instill fear in the wives of servicemen by threatening them with impending misfortunes, which they attribute to curses, evil eyes, or other negative influences supposedly targeting their husbands.
Under the pretense of performing magical rituals, removing curses, or implementing other «protective measures,» the fraudsters manage to extract small sums of money, typically not exceeding a few thousand rubles. They convince their victims to transfer funds directly to their phone numbers, promising immediate relief from the looming troubles. Once the desired amount is obtained, the culprits simply vanish, and the deceived women often remain unaware that they have fallen victim to a carefully orchestrated fraudulent scheme.
In a related incident, authorities in the Tula region recently apprehended a group of fraudsters who had defrauded a soldier`s family. In that case, the perpetrators managed to swindle approximately two million rubles by claiming they could assist the serviceman in obtaining special privileges during his deployment.
