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Fraudsters on the eve of Valentine’s Day (Valentine’s Day) blackmail Russians on social networks and dating sites, extort money in personal correspondence and force them to pay on fake resources to organize romantic dates, PRIME reports citing a review of VTB Bank.
As the financial organization warned, “one of the most common scenarios of scammers on the eve of February 14 was correspondence with users of social networks and dating sites.” “Account holders who rarely use their real name “add as friends” single men and women and start chatting on personal topics,” the bank said.
During the correspondence, the participants exchange their photos, including those of a compromising nature. Then the victim of the attackers begins to receive messages with threats and a demand to transfer money in order to keep the correspondence secret. Otherwise, the scammers promise to send the received photos to the user’s friends and relatives.
Another method of social engineering is getting to know a potential companion who supposedly lives abroad, who asks to transfer money under various pretexts: financial difficulties, health problems, helping a colleague, or – to which lovers especially react – the desire to fly to Russia for a personal acquaintance. “Transfers can be made repeatedly, and the total amount of damage can exceed several million rubles,” VTB stressed.
And finally, attackers are actively using phishing to organize “dates” on the eve of February 14th. Having agreed to go to the cinema, theater or concert, the user receives a link to buy tickets – however, the site may turn out to be fake. Phishing links are also used when selling gifts on popular marketplaces.
Fraudsters exhibit equipment, jewelry, clothes at an initially low cost, to which a potential buyer reacts. And then the scammers take him away from the official site and force him to pay for the goods using a fake link or simply by transferring to a card, VTB warned.
Recall also that this year only 12% of Russians plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day – four times less than 15 years ago. As the SuperJob portal found out during the survey, 78% of respondents are going to ignore the holiday.
Source: Rosbalt
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
