List of common fraudulent schemes and instructions for getting your money back

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Every person who has a mobile phone has at least once in their life received suspicious SMS messages with a request to transfer money to a specified number, with an offer to send an SMS and win a million, or with a notification that a SIM card has been blocked, which can only be removed by calling a certain number. number. Most people understand perfectly well that this kind of SMS messages is a banal scam for money, but there are many that are easy to carry out, otherwise such scams would have lost their relevance long ago.
This article presents the main types of mobile fraud, their operating principles and instructions for those who, by mistake or ignorance, suddenly find themselves among the victims.

• There are many types of mobile fraud, but they all operate on the same principle, the basis of which is emotions. A person under psychological pressure is unable to soberly assess the current situation and in this state it is very easy to manipulate him
• Imagine for a moment that you are the parent of a fully grown child and have decided to go on vacation, leaving him at home. Late at night you receive an SMS message with the text: “Mom/Dad, I’m in trouble. Send 10,000 rubles to this number, I’ll explain everything later.” What will be your first reaction? At a minimum, you will instantly forget about sleep, and at maximum, you will run to transfer money as quickly as possible. But this is not the end. After you have received the message, a call comes from the same number and a confident, calm voice informs you that your child was caught red-handed selling drugs, is now in the police station and is facing a long sentence, but you can hush up this matter if you transfer a certain amount of money. In a half-asleep state, such information will take away your ability to think sensibly and the idea of ​​calling your child on his phone may not even occur to you. Without the opportunity to come to the station, you will have no choice but to fulfill the demands of the extortionist

• All people are psychologically different, so this divorce will not work on everyone. It may turn out that when you receive such a message, your child is sleeping deeply in the next room, and some people do not have children at all. However, before sending a message, most scammers often analyze their victim by phone number and collect information about their marital status. But they have their own tricks for lonely people too

Spy service

• An SMS message is sent to your phone with an offer to connect to a service that allows you to track the location of someone else’s device by number. Activation of this service is carried out via SMS. First of all, you will be asked to register in the system by sending an SMS to short number, then, to complete registration, you will need to complete a short SMS survey
• For each message sent, a huge amount of money will be debited, which will go to the scammers’ account. Even after sending the first message, you can reset your balance or even go negative

Lucky number

• A message comes to your phone with great news. It turns out that your number was randomly selected to participate in a quiz that you had no idea about and won! Your prize was $1,000,000, half a kingdom and a princess to boot. To receive your winnings, you need to send an SMS to a short number. Naturally, you will not receive anything except zeros on your balance

Time to pay the bills

• In this case, you will not receive any SMS messages. Instead, you will receive a call with unknown number. After answering it, you will hear the nasty voice of an automated informer, who will politely remind you that you have not repaid your bank loan. To find out more detailed information, You will be prompted to use the voice menu. At each point they will mutter all sorts of nonsense, in order to delay time as long as possible, since this incoming call is paid and with every minute of conversation money flows away from your balance. In addition, overly naive clients may be given their bank card number and other information. personal information

• This type of fraud is quite old and widespread, however, it is still relevant today. You receive an SMS asking you to disable all incoming advertising. The offer is actually tempting, since advertising sometimes gets on your nerves, but no one is going to turn it off for you. After sending an SMS message to a short number, nothing will happen other than debiting money.

Death cry

• This type of scam is as old as mammoth bones. He practices not only on mobile devices, but also on the Internet. The principle of its action is pressure on pity. An SMS message comes to your phone with a heartbreaking story about a four-year-old girl who urgently needs a kidney or liver donor. Following are the phone numbers to which you should send all information on this topic. In fact, there is no girl and the only purpose of this message is to rip off as much money as possible from your mobile account

Line problems

• Your phone receives a call allegedly from an employee of your operator who is busy troubleshooting the network. He will ask you to dial a certain combination of numbers to test the connection. In fact, this combination of numbers will simply evaporate all your funds in your mobile account

Please call

• This method of fraud is also very old. It appeared almost immediately after mobile communications became available to everyone and today is one of the most successful and widespread. A pretty girl or guy comes up to you on the street and politely asks you to call. Dials the desired number, the money from your balance goes down the drain, and as a reward you only receive a “thank you.” Many people fall for this method because the scammers who use it ideally master the art of seduction

Highly paid job offer

• Today it is quite difficult to find a job with decent wages, especially for people without work experience and in small towns. Therefore, scammers have occupied this niche. An SMS message comes to your phone with an invitation to an interview at a reputable company with a high salary. All that is required is to send an SMS to a specific number in order to confirm your desire to undergo an interview. The result, as in other cases, will be the same

You've got a wrong number

• You receive a call on your phone and the person tells you that he made the wrong number and accidentally put money on your number and asks you to return it. Such troubles, of course, happen, and if you are a kind-hearted person and intend to return the money to the unfortunate person, then first, be sure to check whether the money he talks about has arrived in your account and ask him to name the exact amount

Mobile virus

• This type of fraud differs from others in that you cannot simply ignore it. A program infected with a virus gets onto your device, and a window opens on the entire screen, interfering with your work with the device. You can close it only by sending an SMS message to the number specified in this window. The problem is that even if you send this SMS, after some time the window will appear again. This virus can only be removed by resetting your phone to factory settings.

How to get your money back if you become a victim of fraud?

• If it turns out that you still find yourself among the victims of scammers, then do not despair. It will be difficult to get your money back, but it is quite possible.
• It’s worth saying right away that contacting the police is useless. Valiant law enforcement officers, of course, will accept your statement and promise to find the attackers as soon as possible, but their words will not correspond to their actions. The police will not waste time on such trifles; they will postpone your case to long box and will do something more “serious”
• The first thing you need to do is call your mobile operator, describe the problem and ask to connect you with the security service. They are unlikely to give you a direct telephone number, but they simply must provide you with a number for sending SMS messages.
• The operator will ask you to provide all information on the money transfer. How they were transferred to the account, at what time, account number. If you transferred money using a Qiwi terminal or ATM, you will need to indicate the terminal number that is indicated on the check received during the transfer
• If you transferred money from a bank account, then you should contact the nearest branch of your bank, describe the situation and write an application for a refund. If you still decide to contact the police, then make a copy of the statement from the bank and provide it to law enforcement officers

How to get your money back if you become a victim of fraud?

• When you transfer money, it does not arrive in your account immediately, but “hangs” on the account for about a day. Therefore, if you cannot come to terms with missing funds, you should respond promptly
• Before answering unfamiliar numbers or sending various types of SMS messages, think carefully and assess the situation. Enter unknown number into an Internet search engine and study the links found. Perhaps he is already included in the fraudulent list

IMPORTANT: Do not under any circumstances try to call scammers’ numbers and demand your money back. The least that can happen is that no one picks up the phone and you waste time that you could devote to collecting information for the cellular operator. In the worst case scenario, you will lose even more money for calls to premium numbers.

VIDEO: How can I return money transferred to telephone scammers?

What to do

“Ah, it’s not difficult to deceive me! I’m happy to be deceived myself!” - the great classic once exclaimed. But to the people who have become victims scammer, that doesn't make it any easier. They are quite sincerely perplexed: “How could I be so gullible?” They criticize the current times, the decline of morals, and the government. They curse their evil fate and almost immediately, with some kind of manic persistence, fall for the bait of the next Ostap Bender. Sometimes giving him the last money saved for a rainy day. So how can you avoid ending up in such a situation? How to calculate in a timely manner scammer?

Instructions

Remember that any fraudster is a subtle psychologist. He unmistakably recognizes the “weak spot” of a potential victim. He knows how to hit on a lonely, trusting pensioner, how to attract the attention of a naive married couple, how to make best friend and ingratiate yourself with the trust of some “unrecognized” with exorbitant aplomb. And for this, he first of all needs information about him. Therefore, if a casual acquaintance is trying to “promote” you for a frank conversation, finding out as much as possible about you is already a reason to be wary and carefully evaluate your opponent. Ask yourself a simple question: “Why does he even need this?” And resist the temptation to answer: “That’s because I’m smart, interesting and talented!”, “That’s because I’m so prominent!” This is where vigilance definitely doesn’t hurt.

If you are offered (of course, at the most profitable and exclusive ones!) some kind of monetary transaction or in a “financial pyramid” - think not three, but thirty-three times! Especially if they promise “mountains of gold” and bags of money. This is almost certainly a real scam. Remember the wise old rule: the only free cheese is in a mousetrap. And in no case be afraid to offend a “good person” with your refusal! If he is really good, he will understand everything correctly and will not be offended. If he’s a fraudster, that’s what he needs.

Remember more often the sensational ones with MMM, Khoper-Invest, Tibet and other companies to which gullible fellow citizens entrusted their considerable savings. This will help you protect yourself from bitter disappointment when another “ringing nightingale” appears on your doorstep, promising a fabulously profitable profit.

Video on the topic

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 listed in their phone book, about changing your 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. 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 in 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 get viral software, thanks to which your account will be reset 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 short number offered, 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).

“Mom, put the money on the phone. I’ll call you back later!” - such SMS messages often arrive on the phones of Russian cellular subscribers. And calls from relatives allegedly in trouble have become the talk of the town. However, despite the fact that various cases have been described more than once, telephone fraud still does not subside. And what’s even stranger is that the number of victims is not decreasing.

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 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 has hit someone and you urgently need 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.

Calls phone scammers 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.

After its appearance, the service mobile messages(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. Typically they provide free service via 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 and keep its virus databases 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.

Today, a great variety of telephone deceptions have proliferated, however, as a rule, they are based on several standard and quite simple circuits. Moreover, there are clearly illegal ways to extract money from you, and there are those that even the prosecutor’s office cannot get into. Here are the most common ones.

SMS quiz

Send as many SMS as possible to number such and such and win a TV (car, trip, etc.)! Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And in small letters it is written that each short message costs one, two, or even more US dollars, and every thousandth wins. So it turns out, figuratively, that at best you win $100, having spent $1000 on email messages. A very common “scam” that still finds its audience.

SMS giveaway

An SMS is received with the following content: “System message. Promotion! Transfer money to such and such number and get exactly twice as much!” Of course, all lovers of easy money start the test small - send, say, 100 rubles. They receive 200 rubles in return. They send 200 rubles and receive 400 rubles. Wow, it works! And here it can suffer. They send, say, 2000 rubles - everything that was in the account - and in response - nothing. They just played a giveaway game with you using mobile transfer systems.

SMS dating

An SMS comes from supposedly a girl with an offer to meet her. The target audience- exclusively men. A friendly lisp begins, a thirst to quickly get to know each other better. He even sends you a photo... In general, we send a number of messages to an unfamiliar number, and then we look - again a decent amount has leaked somewhere from the account. Someone masterfully played the role of a “girl wanting to meet someone.”

“Deposit 200 rubles into your account. Masha"

The most widespread and difficult to prove type of fraud, which almost every mobile phone owner has encountered. An SMS with the request: “I’ve run out of money, top up my account. Masha." Some subscribers, especially people of retirement age, top up the account of scammers, thinking that someone they know or close is writing. Then, with the help of “mobile transfer” systems, the money is transferred to other phone numbers of the scammers, so that they cannot be hooked on the first displayed number in the phones of numerous victims.

Give me the money!

You will receive an SMS notifying you that funds have been deposited into your account. Hmm... A few seconds later the call. The voice reports that it has just mistakenly transferred money to the wrong number and asks to return it using the Mobile Transfer service. In fact, they demand a refund from your user account - which in fact has not changed. Not every subscriber will immediately check their balance, but has the account actually been replenished?

We want to deceive you. Confirm

Many operators have multiple tariffs for services for subscribers. When ordering a service, we send an SMS message to a short number. In response, we receive a request to confirm something additional (age, desire to use the service, etc.). And the answer to such a request is charged according to some cosmic figures. Again, deception.

A year of free calls!

They are calling supposedly from a radio station as part of a joint promotion with your operator. Send the codes of two brand new payment cards and get a year of free calls! Of course, the telecom operator does not carry out any promotions in this way, and your money has been added to the accounts of the scammers. Various super-favorable lifetime rates may also be offered.

GSM Cloning

Your SIM card, having been in the hands of another person, can be copied to the computer’s memory using a special device, and from there to a new SIM card. Pirated equipment for these purposes can today be found freely available online. Moreover, the user of a duplicate of your SIM card - and with it your number - can act quietly and carefully, so that you do not immediately detect an unjustified systematic leak of money from your personal account. How to protect yourself? Just like when using a credit card, never let your SIM card out of your sight, much less into the hands of strangers.

Helpdesk-1 speaking

A call to a telephone is represented by a subscriber service. Incoming phone number either mobile or not detected. Dear Customer, says engineer on duty Ivan Vasiliev. Our service is transferring phones to another communication frequency (some kind of engineering works and etc.). Phone number, balance, everything else will not change, don’t worry! Dial *145 on your phone keypad... Attention! *145* is the beginning of the combination of numbers that begins the transfer of money from the personal account of one subscriber to the personal account of another. You voluntarily transfer money as part of the Mobile Transfer service. Irrevocably. Neither the operator nor the police will help you return what was naively lost.

Helpdesk 2 speaking

Hello, technical support service, engineer on duty Vasily Ivanov. We're having some technical problems here, your number is accidentally blocked and the caller ID information is being transmitted incorrectly. Please call the number (they start dictating)... Phone number paid service. That is, for a call to this phone number N is withdrawn from your personal account, which is limited by the imagination of the “service organizers”. You should know that the technical services of cellular operators do not make such calls in principle.

Helpdesk 3 speaking

Hello, technical support service, engineer on duty Ivan Vasiliev. You changed your tariff plan without notifying our cellular communication company (did not make payments on time, used roaming services, etc.). You need to pay a certain amount of the fine by sending the payment card number to the specified phone number.

Helpdesk-4 speaking

Technical support, Vasily Ivanov (call or SMS). Your phone is blocked, you need to call such and such a number. At the other end of the line there is an answering machine that will briefly explain what needs to be done so as not to lose old number or confirm that you will continue to use the services of this network. There, of course, they will ask you to dial a certain combination of numbers to unlock. Such spam mailings are usually carried out en masse, targeting gullible users.

Relative in trouble

A call from a friend (colleague) of your relative or loved one. Like, something bad happened (road accident, explosion, things became bad on the street, accident, other emergency). A call from someone else's number because the phone of your wife (husband, child, grandmother, aunt, uncle, etc.) has run out of battery. There is not enough money in the account, and in order to solve problems, you still need to call a lot of places. They urgently require you to top up the balance of an unknown number. Fast! It’s better to buy a top-up card and dictate secret code. A pure trust game with many variations on the theme of people worrying about their loved ones. Night calls are especially effective, especially if the voice introduces itself as a traffic police officer or another law enforcement or security service. There are also more terrible cases when people are faced with blackmail and asking for kickbacks in continuation of the theme “your child was caught buying drugs.”

SMS request

I receive an SMS with approximately the following content: “I have problems, call such and such a number, if the number does not answer, put so many rubles on it and call again.” Sometimes you just receive a message: “I’m in the hospital, put money on the number and I’ll call you back later.” You should not immediately rush to top up the account of an unfamiliar number - most likely, this is a case of blatant fraud.

False prize

The host of a famous music radio station allegedly calls and congratulates you on winning a valuable prize. To receive a prize, you need to call within a minute to such and such a radio station number, where you will once again be congratulated on your victory. It is possible that a feeling of joy has already come over you, and you have become more trusting. In addition, you only need to buy a top-up card within half an hour and tell the “DJ” its details - the last condition in order to collect the prize, for example, to pay VAT. At the radio station itself, as it turns out later, no prize awaits you.

Expensive short number

Using short numbers (a set of four digits), you can call the rescue service, popular radio stations, get legal support, contact an insurance company, call a taxi and much more. Such services are provided by third-party providers under a formal agreement with your cellular operator on mutually beneficial terms. For the services provided to each client of a cellular operator, the service provider probably deducts some percentage of the profit. You call a specially indicated number for the appropriate reason. A person will provide you with information. He will question you in detail, take a minute or two to find answers to your specific questions. Well, then you find out that for a conversation with a polite girl, a tidy sum was debited from your account, say $30 for 10 minutes of conversation! Deception? No, everything is fair. At the same time, various cunning techniques are actively used to hide information about the cost of such services. So that it is impossible to be held liable under the article “consumer deception.”

The merciless deception of a deceiver

On email I received a letter with an offer to download a program that can find a secret code for a hundred-dollar payment card. To do this, you need to enter the code of a card worth, say, $10 in the program field. The real ten dollars float away to the scammer, and in return you get a completely useless set of numbers.

False corporate tariff

You receive electronic message from an alleged employee of a large company who is responsible for connecting to a corporate tariff plan. They say, if you wish, for a certain bribe of about $50, you can be connected on favorable terms. At the exit, it is promised to send a SIM card by mail with a lifetime unlimited local connection, activated international roaming and a constantly maintained account balance of, say, $300. Moreover, you can choose any operator as a telecom operator " Big three”, since we are talking about connecting to a large transnational offshore corporation. The offer is valid for a week, since new employees are being hired, and all the paperwork needs to be done “on the sly.”

Deceitful corporate tariff-2

Private offer for a similar tariff plan. Without signing any contract. At a private meeting with an agent, handing over paper money, you receive a real SIM card in your hands. It is indeed activated, and the agreed amount is in the account. But the buyer's happiness does not last long, because... the seller, having received the money, goes straight to the subscriber service center at the operator’s office and, being the only legal owner of the number, simply receives a free duplicate of the SIM card that he allegedly lost. The one that remains in the hands of the buyer becomes invalid.

Deceitful content provider

The website of a usually small content provider indicates a number of interesting services that can be ordered for permanent use - access to movie collections, discounts on wap traffic, caller location services, etc. But in addition to sending an SMS request to a short number, it is suggested to dial special code to activate it. And the code turns out to be a number assigned to the toll provider telephone lines in the countries of America, Africa, Asia, Europe, etc. As a result, the user receives a bill for an expensive international call. No right to dispute written-off funds.

You didn’t sign an agreement - you still have to pay!

In January and February 2010, new information emerged about messages demanding payment of a mobile phone bill. Although people did not sign contracts for the indicated numbers. It turned out that the scammers used the passport data of people not involved in the agreement, subsequently presenting them with certain monetary demands. According to the MTS company, in 2009, about 20 thousand complaints were recorded regarding fictitious contracts with this operator in Russia.

It costs a lot to unsubscribe from spam

You receive an SMS that you are subscribed to the weather forecast service, 7 days free, or to another unexpected spam mailing. To disconnect, you need to dial STOP to such and such a four-digit number. There is, of course, not a word about this number on the operator’s official website. And the money in your account will noticeably decrease.

Is it fantastic to be charged a cosmic amount for picking up the phone?

Call from an unknown number. Once you press the “reply” button, money will be debited from your account. The end result will be a decent amount. SMS with a request to call back to an unknown phone works the same way. Most likely, scammers connect to the network in another region, and the “call at the interlocutor’s expense” service is activated on the number. And the debit goes through a channel created by scammers specifically for these purposes.

Finally. According to Beeline, in January-February of this year the number of requests for fraud to the central help desk fluctuated between 1000-1200 messages per day. Often, employees of the operators themselves are involved in mobile fraud. mobile communications, dealers and especially content providers of various sizes. The leaders in fraudulent abuses today are content providers - small firms that enter into partnership agreements with mobile operators to provide additional services in the field of mobile communications. They are focused on quickly generating income and leaving the market.

In this regard, mobile operators began to reduce the number of partners who have the right to sell pictures, video clips, melodies and other types of content for mobile phones to their subscribers. After all, with a smaller number of providers, it is easier to monitor the quality and characteristics of the transmitted information. Also this year, mobile operators began to revise partnership agreements, introducing a clause on the collection of fines comparable to the partner’s monthly revenue on a particular short number. Thus cutting off unscrupulous players. Forcing others to more carefully conduct control measures among their subcontractors, because often short numbers are subleased, and it turns out that this third party becomes a fraudster, and not the main tenant.

Complex contractual relationships sometimes cause difficulties in determining the guilt of specific companies. But in any case, the name of the cellular operator itself suffers. As a rule, we blame them for all mobile sins. This forces them to become increasingly involved in the fight against mobile fraud, to develop the function of requesting confirmation from the subscriber (to send a message to a short number, to pay for a service, etc.).

Talk to your operator, demand, threaten to refuse services in favor of a competitor. Today it is extremely important to master the topic of security in mobile network, as well as on the Internet and the road network. Even if the light turns green, you should still look around before crossing the road. What if someone rushes towards you at breakneck speed and doesn’t have time to slow down? Then will you blame the faulty traffic lights?

By the way

The Arbitration Court of the Magadan Region found the mobile operator guilty of unlawfully debiting funds from a subscriber's account when using short SMS numbers. Until now, liability in similar situations was borne by content providers who rented such numbers from operators. If the courts take into account the decision of the Magadan arbitration, mobile operators face serious fines: in 2009, fraudulent schemes through SMS payments accounted for $38-45.6 million.

Phone scams are a common scam today. Almost half of the population faces it Russian Federation. Therefore, it is important to know the specifics of telephone scams, what schemes and responsibilities exist for this. It is important to understand in a timely manner that the call is coming from a scammer, to react correctly and contact the authorities for help.

Features of telephone fraud

Telephone scams appeared at a time when humanity was just getting acquainted with the telephone. Then only the owners fell for the scammers' bait landlines. Today, such scams have spread to almost all people, since life has become impossible without a mobile phone.

But where did this type of fraud come from? It turns out that such schemes are being developed in prisons and colonies. Proof of this were multiple investigations, during which it was discovered that most of those imprisoned for certain crimes use cellular communications to take money from civilians.

Certainly, Cell phones prohibited in colonies and prisons. However, this law does not prevent convicted persons from acquiring them. During numerous searches, mobile phones are confiscated every day from prisoners, which fall into their hands in different ways. It has also been recorded that the bulk of telephone calls with fraudulent intentions come from prisons.

During the daytime, strict control is maintained over convicts, but at night and early in the morning it weakens, because the “prisoners” must rest. It is at this time that the evil intent of criminals is most often carried out.

Today it is possible to use GSM mobile communication jammers, thanks to which it becomes impossible to make calls from a certain area. Such silencers are actively installed in those places of deprivation of liberty that are located at a considerable distance from the local population.

Why only there? The fact is that silencers cannot cover a small area; they silence large areas. Consequently, villages, towns and even cities are affected. For this reason, in prisons and colonies cellular is not interrupted by GSM jammers.

One more interesting fact one can consider the existence of special instructions for telephone scams. Thus, during searches, entire schemes and guidelines for action are discovered. They indicate phrases and words that need to be said to the victim of fraud. There is a list of questions that can be asked from the subscriber and a corresponding list of answers that are well thought out.

All words are in many ways similar to the phrases of operators of various companies, reference and information services. It follows from this that convicts make calls to these services and learn the art of speaking correctly.

Prisoners in the colony have practically nothing to do. They have a lot of free time to read literature. Many of them prefer psychology, thanks to which they carefully study the behavioral characteristics of people. Which, in principle, then helps them in their crimes. The convicts cleverly put a person into a state of stupor or stress and keep him in this position until they achieve their goal.

Why do scammers target your phone number? In reality, everything is very simple. They can dial any combination of numbers or use a specific database. The database is easy to assemble. The scammer calls a random number, introduces himself as an employee of a mobile phone service, a bank, any company that gives away prizes, etc.

During the conversation, he will find out your marital status, place of work, last name, first name, patronymic, etc. Through certain time calls from another phone number and commits an act of crime.

Information can be obtained from drinking buddies, neighbors, work colleagues, relatives and other people. In addition, you can read the advertisements that you gave in the newspaper or posted on the Internet, and go to your page on social networks. Additional information about Internet fraud, as it is closely related to telephone fraud.

It is very difficult to identify a criminal using a phone number, because a SIM card can be bought even without a passport or registered in someone else’s name, fictitious name.

Common Schemes

1. Grief in the family. A police representative calls you on the phone and explains that your son (brother, nephew, sister, father, etc.) was taken to the police station for a minor crime. And if you do not want your relative to go to prison, you need to immediately (before a criminal case is opened) pay a certain amount of money. But, since the investigator does not want to advertise the bribe, the amount should be transferred not at the police station, but in any other place. That is, you need to deliver the money to the exact location indicated.
2. Get a prize. A radio presenter may call you (referred to by the real name of one of the presenters of the radio station in your city). He solemnly announces that the big prize went to you, since your phone number was provided by your telecom operator. You are given a telephone number to call back, where you listen to the terms of the competition or lottery draw. But to receive a prize, you need to provide your personal information (date of birth, full name). But that's not all. It turns out that you need to go through the registration procedure on the official website and receive a winner code. This is where it all begins. To activate the card, you need to make an express payment and provide the prize department with the card number so that they can activate it.
3. You can receive an SMS notification from an unknown number, allegedly from a relative, asking you to top up your number.
4. You are offered a profitable deal or participation in promotions, lotteries etc. In this case, you need to dial a certain code with a special combination on your phone. It seems harmless. In fact, the combination facilitates the withdrawal of money from your account.
5. You are invited to participate in a major quiz, the conditions of which are sending SMS. In fact, it says at the bottom (in very small print) that the cost per text message is a minimum of $1. As a result, you send a bunch of messages, losing your money in the hope of winning big.
6. Giveaways. A very exciting “game” for gambling people. You receive a message that if you send money to a certain account, you will receive 2 times more back. You first send 50 rubles, receive 100, then 100, 200 are returned. But when the sending amount increases several times, nothing is returned to you.
7. Acquaintance. Such SMS come mainly to males from girls. An acquaintance is made, they send you photos, etc. Communication occurs only through messages. As a result, after a while you notice that there is no money in your account, since the messages were paid and very expensive.
8. Refund. You receive an SMS stating that your account has been replenished by 100 rubles (for example). You wonder who could do such a thing! A few minutes later, an unfamiliar number calls you and tells you that he completely accidentally topped up your phone number instead of another (an error in one digit). At the same time they demand a refund. You, as a decent person, do this through the service " Mobile transfers" As a result, you lose what you have without even checking the balance of your number first.
9. Support. They are calling you from here, that is, from your mobile operator. They may tell you that the frequency of communication transmission is changing, your number has been blocked, you need to switch to a different tariff, etc. But the main thing is that all restoration services are paid.
10. You receive an SMS stating that you are a subscriber to a service., for example, to obtain a weather forecast. If you do not want to receive such information, you need to write an SMS to a 4-digit number with a specific word. When you send a message, money is withdrawn from you.
11. You pick up the phone or call back to an unfamiliar number, and the money is written off at this moment. And it’s not the mobile operator’s account, but the swindler’s.

find out useful information about similar fraud schemes from our video:

New types of telephone fraud

The two most recent scams:

You won a car. Usually an SMS notification is sent in which you are invited to visit, supposedly, the official website. You can also call back using another phone number. Everything seems to be correct. But then you are asked to top up the company’s account in order to verify the authenticity of the phone number. In this case, you will receive a special code. When it is entered, the money is transferred to the scammers’ account.

Bank card blocking. You receive a message on your phone stating that your card has been blocked. To unblock, you are asked to call the specified number back. Allegedly, the operator explains to you that there was a failure in the system and in order to restore your card you need to give its full number and, accordingly, a PIN code. Next, the entire amount is withdrawn from your card.

How to understand that a scammer is calling

We have listed the bulk of fraud schemes. But the trouble is that new frauds are being invented every day, which no one knows about. Therefore, pay special attention to the following signs:

1. Unfamiliar or hidden number phone.
2. Suddenness and the requirement for quick decision making.
3. Excessive self-confidence.
4. Persistence.
5. Incomprehensibility and vagueness of answers to your questions.
6. Excessive ingratiation and persuasion.
7. Increased nervousness after your questions.
8. Please send money.
9. Interest in your confidential and personal data.

How to respond to calls

1. The most important and first rule is to keep your emotions under control. If you are told about a big win, do not rejoice, since even a positive emotional outburst contributes to stupor.
2. You can't make any decision right away. So tell the caller that you will call back after careful consideration. If they tell you that the matter is urgent and you need an answer right away, refuse the tempting offer. This indicates a scam.
3. Do not provide your personal information. If this is a bank, then the employees know your information. Don't talk about bank cards, do not give out PIN codes or other confidential information.
4. It happens that a fraudster introduces himself as an employee of a clinic, police, bank, or insurance agency. In this case, be sure to check his full name, position, management contacts, and official website information. You can even ask to call Sergei Nikolaevich (fictitious name) on the phone. If this is a fraudster, then he will hesitate.
5. If you are announced as a winner, search the Internet for the specified giveaways and read them and the reviews. Perhaps someone has already found themselves in this situation.
6. Do not transfer money under any circumstances!
7. If these are not scammers, then they should provide a number hotline, where you can call back.

Where to contact

If you have fallen into the network of telephone scammers or suspect a caller of this, immediately contact the nearest police station or call 102! You can leave a corresponding application on the official website (Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation).

Management “K” will look into this matter. In the application you need to indicate your details and phone number. As well as the scammer’s phone number, the required amount, a list of questions that were asked to you and all the other information you know about the caller.

What are the responsibilities?

Quite often it becomes impossible to initiate a criminal case for (telephone) fraud. The fact is that scammers act very cunningly. They usually do not announce a specific transfer amount Money and do not put significant pressure on the person to take action.

But swindlers act covertly, using psychological manipulation. This is why victims most often make their own decisions about transferring money. And the person himself bears responsibility for such actions.

But, if certain actions were detected on the part of the fraudster, then he is liable under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If the crime was committed by one person, then the punishment includes fines, a certain period of correctional labor or imprisonment for up to 2 years. If a crime is committed by a group of persons, liability includes imprisonment for up to 10 years.

The amount of the fine and the prison term depend on the scale of the fraud and the amount of damage caused. Therefore, it is impossible to say specifically what punishment the scammers will suffer. The judicial process is carried out at the individual level.

Treat calls from strangers with full responsibility and seriousness. Do not believe the first people you meet and do not tell other people about your acquaintances. Do not post personal information on social networks for public viewing. And then you will be able to avoid telephone scams!

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