Russians are being cautioned about a sophisticated new fraudulent scheme. Scammers are now impersonating employees of online marketplaces, attempting to deceive individuals into revealing sensitive personal and financial information.
Andrey Biichuk, Product Director at «Zashchitnik» (Defender), unveiled this evolving scam tactic in a recent interview with RIA Novosti. The modus operandi involves fraudsters initiating calls to potential victims, informing them about a supposed delivery that has been ordered in their name.
When an individual naturally denies placing such an order, the imposters are quick to offer a range of plausible explanations. These commonly include claims of a system error, a surprise gift being sent to them, or an order placed by another user that has been mistakenly assigned to the recipient`s name.
Following this deceptive setup, the scammers proceed to request the victim to «verify their identity» and then send an SMS code to their phone. In some instances, they significantly escalate the pressure, urging immediate verification and even threatening that the supposed package will be disposed of if the victim fails to comply swiftly.
Biichuk strongly emphasized that the SMS code is the critical component of this scam. By obtaining this code, fraudsters gain unauthorized access to the victim`s personal data, which can include bank accounts. Furthermore, criminals might send a deceptive link to a counterfeit website, meticulously designed to mimic a legitimate courier service or marketplace, where unsuspecting users are then prompted to enter their sensitive personal details.
This recent warning follows previous alerts regarding another unusual fraud scheme observed in Russia, where criminals exploited the premise of «intercom code changes» as a pretext to steal data and compromise mobile applications.
Stay vigilant. Never share SMS verification codes or sensitive personal details with unverified callers or through suspicious links. Always confirm directly with known, official channels.
