Fraud using cell phones. Beware: telephone scammers! What to do if scammers have withdrawn money from your phone

Popular options for telephone and SMS scams

1. Fraudsters have become so advanced in their methods of luring money out of ordinary people that sometimes it comes to surveillance and computer voice imitation. Thus, scammers can watch a wealthy family for some time and find out that the parents have a student son who drives a car. Then they find out his phone number - they send a girl with a request to call, saying that she herself has run out of money on her phone. Then the scammers call his number and record his voice on a voice recorder, and later use computer programs to simulate the sound of his voice, passing the voice of their accomplice through a computer synthesizer. Next, the scheme of action is as follows: the parents (usually the mother of the young man - since women are usually more emotional) receive a call from an alleged traffic police officer and tell them that their son was involved in an accident - he hit a pedestrian to death. The phone is then passed to the “son,” who briefly states that this is the case, and that he is now in the patrol car. Parents are offered to “buy off” their son from inevitable prison - for 10-15 thousand dollars. For that kind of money, authorities can “move the corpse” and “find the necessary witnesses.” At the same time, the real son is usually monitored so that he does not return home ahead of time.

2. Another well-known way to lure money is a “call from the clinic.” Thus, criminals receive data about patients with their contact information and diagnosis. Then the scammers call the patient (usually elderly people) on behalf of the doctor and inform him about unsatisfactory test results (for example, that a blood test showed the presence of cancer in an advanced stage). Then they explain that there are very few places for hospitalization, the operation will be expensive, and therefore you need to make an advance payment - the doctor himself will come to the patient’s home and collect the money. At the same time, instead of an operation, the “doctor” persuades the elderly person to purchase an alternative to the operation - medicine (a regular dietary supplement) for a huge amount of money.

3. SMS fraud schemes usually come in several varieties: these are contests and lotteries, personal SMS with a request to deposit money into an account, or some incredible services. In the first case, a person receives a newsletter on their phone with an offer to answer a question and win a large sum, or indicating that their number has become a winner, and all that remains is to send a response SMS and receive a prize.

4. Another option is an SMS from a subscriber’s number with a request to deposit money into your account, since the person mistakenly deposited money into your number. Or an SMS from an unknown subscriber with the question “Where are you?”, when answered, a tidy sum of money is debited from the account.

5. Often you receive offers on your phone to find out about a person’s whereabouts by phone number or to trace your family tree. A large sum is often charged for the service, but the service itself is not provided.

How to understand that they are trying to deceive you?

1. Unknown or hidden phone number. Fraudsters often use “disposable” mobile numbers registered to dummies, so that it is more difficult to identify them later. Number anti-identifiers can also be used, which hide the caller's number from the subscriber.

2. When talking on the phone, there is an “urgency” and “urgency” to the issue in terms of time. Even if the voice is similar to that of your relative or friend, ask him a couple of personal questions. If any official or employee of an organization calls you on the phone, find out their title or position and full name, and ask for time to think about it. Usually, it is not profitable for scammers to give you time, because then you can start thinking critically and try to find out for yourself that the caller is not who he claims to be.

3. Inconsistencies in conversation. There are a lot of phone fraud schemes, and criminals can very carefully prepare their “speech” and rehearse their answers to questions. However, they cannot prepare for everything, especially since they are usually not in the mood for a long clarification of the “situation”. When you start asking again, especially to clarify some numbers or names, those on the other end of the line may begin to worry. This can be expressed both in a change in the intonation of the voice, and in “interruption of communication”, “interference”, and other factors that will allow the fraudster to avoid a question for which he was not prepared.

Telephone fraud is a new type of fraud that criminals carry out using a mobile phone or. Most often, the goal of scammers is to defraud the victim of money. Moreover, this type of fraud is practically unpunished.

According to statistics, telephone fraud is one of the most profitable types of crime. There is no punishment for these actions for the simple reason that the amounts asked for are quite small, for which no one will contact the authorities.

What methods do telephone scammers use?

If you receive an SMS with dubious content, do not immediately rush to transfer money. Don't be surprised if you can't get through to the person who sent you a request for help. This is due to the fact that scammers are quite well equipped technically and use special plugs that do not allow the call signal to pass through to the phone.

It’s better to protect yourself in advance by agreeing with your family on any secret details: words, phrases, etc. that you will use if you really need help. In other cases there is no need to react.

Try not to respond to SMS of this kind. If the thirst for justice is boiling in your blood,... True, it is not at all a fact that they will consider it, because there is no corpus delicti - you did not give the money.

As for calls to the phone with the story that this is an investigator, and your relative hit someone and urgently needs money, you need to think very soberly in such a situation. Even if the caller's voice may be very similar to yours. Try to call him and find out if everything is okay. Do not be shy about the loved ones with whom he may be close. After all, you are trying to find out the truth.

Phone scam calls usually occur at night. This is due to the fact that they are trying to confuse you, because a sleepy person cannot think soberly. Therefore, pull yourself together and don’t panic.

What to do

If you realize that the SMS is fake, the only thing you can do is call your mobile operator and inform them about the scam and the number from which you received the message. As a rule, the operator blocks such a subscriber.

In a more complex situation, for example, if you transferred money, you will need to write a statement to the operator asking for a refund. True, you can only count on reimbursement of lost funds if it was carried out within the same network.

If they call you and demand that you bring a certain amount of money to save a relative from trouble, you need to hang up immediately. Remember that no one will ask you for a bribe, especially over the phone.

Situations where fraudsters have defrauded a fairly large sum are not uncommon. Usually the victims are gullible pensioners. In this situation, you don’t need to think twice, but go to the police immediately.

Fraudsters have long been using mobile communications as an opportunity to deceive and steal money, which is known to all subscribers, but not all of them remain vigilant. Moreover, new methods of fraud are invented almost every day. To deprive you of money, scammers use SMS messages, through which large sums are debited from your account.

The easiest way to detect SMS fraud is the unknown number from which the message was sent. As a rule, people you know, when purchasing a new SIM card, automatically notify those whose numbers are in their phone book about the change of mobile phone number. As a last resort, when sending a message from a new phone number, they will sign their first and last name. Fraudsters won't do anything like that. Therefore, any SMS message sent from an unknown number should be treated with suspicion. Especially if you are required to perform some actions: open a sent media file, call or send a message to a specified short number, transfer money to a subscriber, supposedly your friend, who is in an unpleasant situation.

There is a very high chance of falling for scammers during the holidays. They send out postcards that require you to install an app on your phone to view them. This program turns out to be a regular Trojan, thanks to which money is regularly debited from your account. In some cases, scammers manage to hack accounts on social networks and send SMS messages on behalf of your friends, which contain links to sites supposedly with interesting mobile applications. Of course, by clicking on this link, you will receive virus software that will wipe out your account in a matter of minutes. Before clicking on such links, contact your friend and ask if he really sent you this SMS message.

As for offers to send an SMS message to a short number, before doing this, it would be a good idea to ask on the Internet whether they are scammers. MTS has a special service, and you can, by sending the message “?” to the offered short number, receive information about the service, owner, support team and the amount that will be debited from you. Megafon subscribers can also find out the cost of a message to a given short number using the USSD command “*432#”. A similar service is available for Tele2 subscribers using the command “*125#”.

Be attentive and critical to any information the recipient of which you do not know. Please note any discrepancies with the traditionally used number. For example, Sberbank’s online newsletter is carried out from the number “900”. Recently, scammers began sending messages to clients of this bank asking them to provide bank card details from the numbers “SB900” and “9OO” (two capital o).

Since its introduction, the mobile messaging service (SMS) has gained extraordinary popularity due to its convenience, confidentiality and speed of information transfer. However, this type of message is loved not only by users and organizations, but also by all sorts of scammers who tirelessly invent more and more new ways to take money via SMS from overly gullible citizens.

Instructions

There are currently a lot of ways to cheat using SMS. It is difficult to describe them all, as well as the algorithm of actions of the recipient of such messages, in one article. But we can give general recommendations, which, however, will be very effective in each case. First of all, if you receive a suspicious message from an unfamiliar number, which in one way or another encourages you to transfer money to coordinates unknown to you, you should immediately understand that it is a scammer. No matter what name he writes on: from a relative, bank, mobile operator, etc.

You need to be very vigilant before sending SMS to short numbers. At the same time, you should not disclose your personal data, including bank card details and codes (real bank employees will never ask you for a PIN code or three-digit number), and also be careful when clicking on links contained in SMS messages from short numbers.

Large mobile operators are trying to protect their consumers from SMS scammers. As a rule, they provide a free service for SMS messages (reception and sending) to short numbers, or allow you to find out the exact cost of SMS to a short number before sending it. Take advantage of these services. Also, if your phone is connected to the Internet, you need to install a good antivirus program on it and keep its virus database up to date with regular updates.

If, despite all the warnings described above, you still become a victim of SMS scammers, you need to notify your mobile operator, as well as the short number provider (you can find out who the provider is on the corporate website of the mobile operator) about the fact of fraud and illegal debiting of funds from invoices, if this was done using a short code; or contact the police with a statement if unknown persons demand that you transfer money, introducing themselves as bank employees, relatives, etc.

Helpful advice

If you have artistic talent, you can get great moral and small monetary pleasure from communicating with an attacker. So you can explain, for example, to a “bank employee” (who is probably calling you from places not so remote) that you would be happy to send an SMS to an unknown number with your bank card details, but, of course, much to your regret , you are running out of money on your phone and to receive further instructions from the “bank employee” you would like to ask him to transfer 300 rubles to your phone. If you are an artist, you can receive a small compensation for moral damages from a call from scammers.

Telephone fraud arose almost simultaneously with the widespread adoption of home telephones. Despite the fact that he has been known about for a long time, the number of his victims is growing every year. This is due to the growth of phone users, now mobile. Today, calls to home numbers are rare, which cannot be said about cell phones.

Features of fraud

As a rule, the victims of telephone scams are teenagers and pensioners.

Signs of fraud:

• The number from which you received the SMS or call is not familiar to you.
• The reason for the call is very unusual, and the problem needs to be solved almost right away.
• To resolve the situation, you need to transfer money or dial a special code, provide certain personal information, and transfer money.

Basic schemes

• Poor relative. The most common scheme that works on both mobile and home phones. When you answer the call, the interlocutor says that he is your relative and tells the story of how he fell into the hands of the police for a crime. After this, another person can pick up the phone, introduce himself as a police officer and state his demands in exchange for a certain amount of money. Often money must be brought to a certain place or transferred through a person, since the valiant servant of the law himself is afraid of getting caught taking a bribe. As soon as the victim agrees to give the money, she is given the address where to bring the funds. After arriving at the scene, the address may be changed, and the victim may be monitored in order to exclude police involvement.
• Happy winner. A radio presenter contacts you and tells you that you have won a big prize in a lottery organized by the radio company with the participation of your mobile operator. To receive your winnings you need to call the following number. You call back, and they tell you about the lottery itself, ask for your last name, first name and patronymic, date of birth. After this, it turns out that in order to receive a prize you need to register and receive a unique winner number. But for this it is important to top up your account by activating a card for express payment for a certain amount. At the same time, to activate, you need to inform the prize department of the card codes, but you cannot activate them yourself, oddly enough.
• Help. You receive a message asking you to top up the number indicated in it. The sender is signed by one of the relatives or friends. Alternatively, the message may contain a request to call the number back, since the sender is having problems. The number itself may be paid.
• Error when transferring funds. You receive a message that a certain amount of money has been credited to you using the mobile money transfer service. After some time, a person calls you and says that he transferred money to your number by mistake and asks you to return it. With the check issued during the transfer, the scammers contact the operator. Based on the application, the top-up amount is debited from your balance.
• Activation of services. You receive an offer to connect to a profitable service. But to do this you need to dial a combination code to activate. This is actually a combination for transferring funds.

New schemes

• Winning a car. The SMS notification talks about winning a car. To find out more details, you need to visit the website or call the number. Then you are told that to verify the authenticity of the number, you need to top up your balance with a certain amount, and then dial a special code to verify the account. The money is immediately transferred to the scammers’ account.
• Theft of bank details. You receive a message indicating that your bank card is blocked. To unblock you need to dial the number specified in the message. There they tell you a fairy tale about a server failure. Then they ask you to provide your card number and PIN code.

Responsibility

If in a conversation or message the amount to be transferred was not announced, a strong incentive was not given to encourage action, and the victim himself made the decision, then he is responsible for his actions.

If the victim not only received instructions to transfer the announced amount of money, but also gave them, then the case will be considered under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The penalty depends on the amount of damage. The maximum sentence is 10 years, and a fine of up to 1,000,000 rubles is also provided.

And again, the damage must be at least 1,000 rubles. Otherwise, the case is considered under the Code of Administrative Offenses - Article 7.27. In this case, the crime is classified as petty theft.

Where to contact?

The application must indicate:

• Who called you and from what number they called you.
• What questions were asked, what was the reason for the call.
• What amount did they demand?

If you managed to transfer money to the attacker, you must also file a civil lawsuit. Only then can fraudsters be legally required to compensate for the losses caused.

How to avoid?

• Don't make quick decisions. Remember that the main goal of criminals is to confuse you and not give you time to think about the situation.
• Be sure to check the information you are given. In the case of relatives, call their phones or contact people around them or employees. If we are talking about an operator or a bank, call the hotline. Typically, bank numbers are indicated on plastic cards.
• Do not provide criminals with personal information or various card details.
• Under no circumstances should you call back unknown numbers or enter any suspicious codes offered.

Video: Telephone scam

Telephone fraud is a relatively new type of defrauding citizens of money or valuables, which flourished after the mass distribution of mobile phones. Although it existed before, in its simplest form - to find out if the owners were at home, or to force them to leave the apartment under the invented pretext of their grandmother’s illness at the dacha.

The essence of telephone fraud is simple. They call you and tell you something, after which you lose a certain amount of money. By the way, it is absolutely not necessary that they call you on your mobile phone. They can also use a regular landline phone - unfortunately, databases of almost ALL phone numbers can be purchased. Let's look at the most common options. There are two of them, the second is divided into many sub-options.

phone scammers

1. A close relative hit a person, the police must be paid

No matter how many times this scheme is reported in newspapers and on TV, scammers continue to use it. You get a call, usually at night, supposedly from the police and say that your son (daughter, brother, sister) hit someone at a pedestrian crossing. He faces many years in prison, but you can pay off the police. Take 100 thousand (or more, or less) and bring it there, or else, we’ll come to you and hand over your little son in exchange for money.

At first, this simple option also worked. Then they began to work more sophisticatedly. Your son called you from the police and described the situation crying. Then a policeman picked up the phone and clearly explained what to do now. Many came across. Especially if you were given a deadline for transferring money, for example, like this: in half an hour the colonel will arrive, and then nothing can be done. Hurry up.

How to avoid getting caught

Don't be surprised that they called you. Obviously, the scammers have previously made inquiries about you. They know that you have a son who drives a car. So you ask the fake policeman to hand him the phone. It happened that they passed it on to a good imitator of your son’s voice. Then you need to ask him a question to which only he can know the answer. For example, when was the last time you visited your grandmother? Usually after this the “divorce” ends.

It can be even simpler - call your son back. It is unlikely that the scoundrels will stage this comedy at the very moment when your son’s phone is turned off; they have no way of knowing about this.

Yes, but what about the case when your son himself calls you? And this is not him, this is an imitator. This means that you have been eavesdropped on for quite some time. Unfortunately, this can happen not only to law enforcement agencies, but also to criminals. There is also this option: they not only overheard you, but also recorded a conversation with your son, then they made a suitable cut from his words, glued them together and now they let you listen.

In both cases, there is only one counteraction - call your son.

phone scammers

2. Huge conversation bill

There are a number of phone scams that can cost you a hefty phone bill. They call you from a number unknown to you, they immediately hang up, you call back out of curiosity and you are involved in a long and very expensive conversation, for example, with a nice girl. And the number you called back turns out to be a paid number and you receive a receipt for a huge amount.

Another option is that a phone number appears in a newspaper or on the Internet with an offer to buy something interesting at half price - a car, an apartment, a dacha. This is also a paid number. You call, they talk to you for a long, long time, and then they tell you that, alas, it has already been sold. Next, as usual, is a receipt for a tidy sum.

Next option. On the street, someone asks you for your phone to call your dying grandmother, but his phone is dead. And everything is needed very urgently. You give it, he calls a paid number, lies for a long time about his grandmother, then - see above.

Or so. You are told that you need to call such and such (of course, a paid) number, because... Then there are a million options, from a malfunction in your own network to the need to save someone’s life from something. Or you won a million - call such and such a number. Or you guessed right in the TV lottery - you call the specified number, etc. You can't list everything.

How to avoid getting caught

The simplest thing is to never call back an unknown number! What if you don’t have a notebook in your phone’s memory? Or suddenly an unknown person calls you with a really serious offer? It's more complicated here, but not much. Call back, and if you feel that the conversation is meaningless, not relevant, or is clearly being delayed on purpose, hang up. Really nice and decent girls do not communicate for a long time with unfamiliar men. And vice versa.

phone scammers

What if you do get caught?

There is nothing to think about here. As soon as you realize that you have been deceived, immediately contact the police. The Law comes into play.

We all intuitively understand what fraud is and how it differs, for example, from theft. But the law requires a precise definition, and this is how it is done in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

Article 159. Fraud

Fraud, that is, the theft of someone else’s property or the acquisition of rights to someone else’s property through deception or abuse of trust.

Further, Article 159 describes in detail what punishment follows for fraud, including telephone fraud. The law distinguishes between several types of fraud and establishes various penalties. So, for “simply” fraud, this scoundrel is subject to a fine of up to 120 thousand rubles to imprisonment for up to two years.

For fraud committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, as well as causing significant damage to a citizen, the scoundrels are liable to a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles to imprisonment for a term of up to five years.

For fraud committed by a person using his official position, as well as on a large scale, the scoundrels are entitled to a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles to imprisonment for a term of up to six years.

And finally, for fraud committed by an organized group or on a particularly large scale or resulting in the deprivation of a citizen’s right to residential premises, these scoundrels are subject to imprisonment for up to ten years with a fine of up to one million rubles.

Result

I have given here only extreme types of punishment; between them, the Law also provides for intermediate ones - a different amount of fine and a different term of imprisonment. Scammers who read these terms should understand that they cannot get away with chatter that they were just joking. Of course, if the deceived citizens contact the police in time and manage to find out from the scammers any information incriminating them - telephone number, car number, any noticeable features of behavior or speech, appearance, etc. It's not easy, but it's worth a try. Maybe then it will be possible to return the stolen money. Although it is best, using the rules we have given, not to fall for the tricks of telephone scammers.

The latest achievements of scientific and technological progress are designed to qualitatively change human life for the better. This is what happens, but these same innovations are actively used by dishonest people to illegally enrich themselves at the expense of other citizens. One type of such crime is telephone fraud. Its cases are becoming more frequent, and the schemes for extorting money are becoming more sophisticated. What do you need to know so as not to accidentally become a victim of deception?

Aware means armed

Despite the variety of fraud schemes using communications, they can be grouped into thematic groups:

• Request for help. A loved one who is in an unpleasant situation is calling, or someone on his behalf. Usually, in the first case, it is difficult to hear and it is very difficult to accurately identify the caller. In the second, the caller can introduce himself as anyone, even a law enforcement officer. He proposes to solve the situation with the help of money, which must be transferred in any possible way. Most often - by courier, transfer to a bank or mobile account. In fact, nothing happened to anyone, and the money will be taken by telephone scammers. Deception can also be committed using a short SMS.
• We need to call back. In this case, scammers, under any pretext, try to force the subscriber to dial the number specified in the SMS message. There are many pretexts: from an appeal from a friend, right up to problems with a loan. In fact, the number turns out to be a toll number, and money is withdrawn from the caller’s account in accordance with the extortionate tariff.
• "Secret code. In the SMS message you receive or during a conversation, a code is indicated that you must enter on your mobile phone. The motivating reasons are varied. Among the most common are problems with a plastic card or telephone number. The result of dialing these numbers will be to reset the subscriber account.
• Virus programs. They will not end up in the gadget’s memory by accident; victims of telephone scams themselves provide them with this opportunity. By clicking on a link that came from an unknown number, a malicious file is automatically downloaded. It allows third parties to perform certain actions with the phone without the knowledge of its owner, for example, withdraw funds from the account or block communications. To restore it, criminals will demand that money be transferred to them.

By carefully looking at fraudulent schemes, you can identify their main features:

• the number from which they call or send SMS messages is unknown;
• the reason for the call is extraordinary, and the specified problem requires an immediate solution;
• To get rid of the problem, you need to transfer money or perform some action.

Important! The presence of these signs is a reason to be wary and not take rash actions!

Responsibility for telephone fraud

Since criminal manipulations using communications directly harm the interests and well-being of citizens, they come under the close attention of law enforcement agencies. Practice shows that initiating a criminal case for telephone fraud is not so simple.

If the conversation or message does not contain inducing recommendations for a specific action and does not indicate the amount of money to be transferred, then the owner of the phone makes the decision himself and is responsible for it. In this case, there is no corpus delicti.

When the caller nevertheless provides instructions for transferring funds and their specific amount, but the owner of the phone does not take any action and does not suffer damage, then the crime is considered unfinished. The actions of the criminals are then qualified as preparation or attempted crime. Punishment here will follow only if there is a large amount of possible damage and proven conspiracy of several persons.

The worst case scenario is a completed crime. This means that the victim has already parted with the money. Then the provisions of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation apply to telephone fraud. The punishment directly depends on the damage caused, which must exceed 1 thousand rubles. Otherwise, the case will be considered in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses. It contains article 7.27, which provides for liability for petty theft with a minor penalty.

Important! The fact of taking someone else's funds will be recognized as a criminal offense if the money has already been transferred to the scammers and the amount of damage amounted to more than 1 thousand rubles.

Telephone scammers, where to contact?

A victim of the actions of dishonest persons can report fraud to the nearest police department or complain and fill out an application on the official website of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. There is also information that such crimes are dealt with by the special department “K” under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. Its employees strongly advise citizens to be careful and not to fall for the tricks of scammers, because it is better to stop such crimes at the very beginning. Then it will be much more difficult to prove the fact of fraud and return the lost money.

When telephone scammers call, the first thing to do is:

• do not make quick decisions, because the first goal of criminals is to confuse the victim and force them to commit rash actions;
• check the information received by calling a loved one back, bank employees or mobile operators, depending on the situation.
• Do not under any circumstances provide criminals with personal information, bank card details or express payment cards;
• Do not call back to unknown numbers and do not enter the suggested code on your phone.

Important! In the case of fraud using communications, only the attentiveness and caution of phone owners will help avoid unpleasant consequences.

Can phone scam victims get their money back?

This is difficult to do, since after the funds are transferred, they are immediately withdrawn from the phone or transferred to other addresses. In order for law enforcement agencies to begin not only catching criminals, but also returning lost capital, it is necessary to file a civil lawsuit. Then, along with the issue of punishing the fraudsters, the court will oblige them to compensate for the losses caused, including moral damage.

It is quite difficult to understand this situation yourself and draw up a document correctly. It is necessary to contact professional lawyers who will help solve the problem quickly and without extra costs.

ATTENTION! Due to recent changes in legislation, the information in this article may be out of date! Our lawyer will advise you free of charge - write in the form below.