An 80 year old woman from Irkutsk became a victim of phone scammers

In the Leninsky district, an 80 year old woman fell victim to phone scammers. A fake police officer convinced her that her son had allegedly caused a fatal crash and tricked her into giving 200 thousand rubles. The article also describes other common phone and SMS scams used to make people transfer money willingly. The author reminds simple safety rules. Do not answer suspicious numbers and always verify information by calling the bank at the number on the card.

The day before, a phone fraud incident occurred involving an 80-year-old resident of the Leninsky District. She received a call early in the morning. An unknown man, introducing himself as a police officer, said that her son had hit a girl to death with his car. The fake officer offered the woman help in freeing her son from criminal liability, and for this he demanded that she transfer money to the specified bank account. To do this, the woman needed to take her bank card, find an ATM, and carry out the actions he dictated. Without allowing the old woman to recover from the shocking message and contact her relatives, the fraudster kept talking to her continuously until the money was transferred. In the end, the woman voluntarily transferred 200,000 rubles to the unknown man.
Scammers use a wide variety of methods that force the phone owner to hand over money voluntarily. For example, there is the well-known story of an SMS message asking you to urgently call back the number provided. In this case, when making the call, there is a risk of losing an amount from 100 rubles and more, since telecom operators have a paid incoming-call function.
Another method used by criminals is as follows. They mislead a person by exploiting their inability to use banking terminals. In this case, an elderly person receives a message on their mobile phone saying that their bank account has been blocked, and they are given the phone number of a bank employee whom they must contact to resolve the problem. Unaware of anything, the pensioner calls the specified number, where they are told exactly what needs to be done to solve the problem. The citizen follows all the instructions, not realizing that they are transferring all their funds to the fraudster’s mobile phone.
To avoid being deceived, you need to follow a few simple rules: do not answer calls or messages from unknown numbers. And when asked to perform any actions with a card, first of all you need to call the bank back at the number indicated on the bank card.