Phone scammers- this is a new type of scammers who, using a mobile or landline phone, lure money and in almost all cases remain unpunished. Telephone fraud is very profitable and, most importantly, this moment practically unpunished.

Phone scammers, as a rule, work according to two schemes: either they send an SMS message with some text urging you to send money to special number or call it, or they call themselves, and, being good psychologists, persuade pensioners to pay a decent amount, supposedly to save some relative. During the conversation, they change the legend to suit a specific person, which helps to believe in their words.

What helps telephone scammers remain unpunished? SMS fraud This has spread because, as a rule, one person is defrauded of a small amount of money, because of which he will not contact the police or take other actions.

Naturally, not everyone believes in SMS messages from mobile scammers, but receiving such a message, he still wants to somehow punish these people. Again, none of them will contact the police, especially since the deprivation of funds did not occur and a case will not be opened. The only thing you can do is call your telecom operator and tell them the number from which the message came and where the scammers are asking you to send money. After such requests, the operator will block the fraudster, but this will not do much harm to telephone scammers, because getting a new telephone account now does not present any difficulty, and an anonymous one. In our time of high technology, it is possible to track where an SMS message was sent from or a call was made with great accuracy and scammers know about this, so this type of telephone fraud has become widespread in prison, where there is a large number of prisoners and it is impossible to find out who exactly sent the SMS or made call.

As for calls where they are asked to transfer money to a specific person, then of course it is easier to catch scammers if you realize in time that they are really scammers. They usually call older people, introducing themselves as police officers, and saying that their son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter has been taken into custody by the police, for example, for drug possession, and a large sum is required in order to release them. As mentioned earlier, such scammers know people’s psychology very well and are very verbally savvy. During the conversation, they find out exactly how much they can ask for and evaluate how much they were believed. If you immediately contact the police, you can, of course, catch the scammers, but, alas, since they say that the relative is in the police and needs to be “ransomed” from them, almost no one contacts the police. And having figured out the scammers, people simply hang up, again without taking any action.

All mobile operators from " big three» on their websites they created pages dedicated to telephone scams, where you can learn about types of fraud and what numbers to report extortion. In addition, you can find out the cost of SMS or calls to short numbers.

Where to complain about phone scammers:

If you encounter telephone fraud, the first thing you should do is notify your mobile operator. If you transferred funds to the number specified by the scammers or called, as a result of which a certain amount of money was withdrawn from you, the operator will return this money back to you without a conversation, if this happened within the operator’s network.

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 hesitate to call 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 mobile operator requesting a refund. True, you can only count on compensation for lost funds if the money was transferred 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 police officer 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 about where to turn, but go straight to the police.

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 spot SMS fraud is 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, sending a message from a new telephone number, they will sign their first and last name. Fraudsters won't do anything like that. Therefore, any SMS message sent from 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 offered short number, receive information about the service, owner,

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. At that time, only owners of landline phones fell for the bait of scammers. 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.

Of course, mobile phones are 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 jammers mobile communications, making it 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 oh, don't give out PIN codes and 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. Don't post on social networks personal information for public viewing. And then you will be able to avoid telephone scams!

Get a lawyer's answer in 5 minutes

One way or another, I am familiar with the various methods of telephone fraud firsthand, having worked in the communications industry for several years. And the first violin here is really played by cellular operators, as well as their official providers and partner companies. Whose owners are usually connected to top managers of mobile giants through friendship, family or other strong ties.

It’s not just the operator with the egg on the logo who is guilty of the intrusive services described in the previous post. All of us, when purchasing a new SIM card, receive the “melody instead of beep” service as a gift. In theory, the consultant who enters into an agreement with you is obliged to tell you about this service. About how to change or turn off the melody and that the service is provided free of charge for only 30 days. Then you have to pay for it. Not much, 50 rubles a month. But in a year he accumulates 600 rubles. And how many runs nationwide? What other “rewards for loyalty” does your favorite mobile operator have in store for you?

Yes, buying new subscriber number, we receive the contract in a beautiful box. This agreement and all annexes to it are available at in electronic format on the company website, where there is Personal Area subscriber Finally, the phone itself has a so-called SIM menu, through which you can open all operator subscriptions and services and disable them. But 90% of users throw away the contract immediately after purchase. And a good half have never looked into their personal account in their lives and do not know where the sim menu is. U modern smartphones, by the way, even a specialist will not find it right away. As a result, hardworking bees, eggs and swearing workers continue to clip coupons, writing off money for unnecessary or unprovided services.

If you don’t need the imposed service or content, your own attempts to get rid of them are unsuccessful, and the call center doesn’t want to or can’t help you, don’t hesitate to contact the operator’s office. You can write to their accounts on social networks, it’s been tested, it helps. At worst, there are Roskomnadzor and Rospotrebnadzor.

With numerous “gray” services distributing paid content through the short number system, it is much more difficult to fight. These subscriptions are not always saved in the SIM menu; often you can even receive a malicious Trojan horse on your device along with photos of pretty girls. And your smart iPhone friend will need a visit to the telephone Aibolit.

The good thing is that the operators themselves do not like outright handicraft extortionists that compromise them and provide them with some competition. All short number services could be closed within one day. But apparently, the income received from aggregators so far exceeds the harm they cause.

The main damage to users and the prestige of mobile businesses is caused by outright scammers. Above we talked about relatively honest ways of taking money from the population. Alas, it is even more difficult to end the “black” methods.

As one of my cynical communications colleague said, a sucker is not a mammoth, he will not die out on his own. Ostap Bendery are coming up with new methods telephone wiring.

The risk for scammers is low for many reasons. Firstly, all illegal operations are carried out in such a way as to leave a minimum of traces. If in Soviet times scammers called from pay phones, now they call from fraudulent SIM cards. And although Putin recently signed a decree increasing fines for selling SIM cards to anonymous people, the number of such SIM cards is not decreasing. Service providers mobile operators In pursuit of rewards, SIM cards are issued in bulk to dummies, and then sold at half price to trusted retailers. So nameless numbers are spreading across the country like cockroaches.

Secondly, sensible scammers know when to stop. Let's take a recent example - this type of fraud appeared in our country recently. WITH short number A set of meaningless numbers and Latin letters arrives on your phone. And after a few minutes from a number similar to yours An embarrassed girl calls and says that she made a mistake and accidentally reset her secret password to you. Without any second thought, you dictate mysterious numbers to a stranger and... from your personal account A small amount of money goes to a fake or very real online store. Because the scammer does not know the balance of your phone and prefers to be content with little. At the same time, there is no risk of receiving a real prison sentence.

You may not know, but the lion's share of telephone scams are carried out by persons serving time in prison. Of course, they have accomplices on the outside, in the administration, but the calls and SMS are the work of those sitting behind the barbed wire. Free time reveals multifaceted talents in inmates. Someone manages to make chess from matches. Someone manifests himself as an extraordinary psychologist or even a hypnotist. But, apparently, the police don’t really want to bother with crimes committed over the phone from somewhere in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

An unknown man once called me, introduced himself as an acquaintance of my former business partner and asked me to transfer money to a certain bank account. Everything looked quite well-reasoned, but I couldn’t get confirmation from my companion. As an express check carried out by our company’s security service showed, this same partner... served time in the north of the Perm region for credit fraud and, with the help of his neighbors in the barracks, organized such a simple way to improve his affairs,

Basically, scammers from the zone specialize in theft from bank cards. This, in my opinion, is a rather nervous business. How many subscribers do you need to send a message: “Your card is blocked,” and then either receive no reaction at all, or hear obscenities on the phone, or, finally, in case of unexpected luck, have to explain for a long time to a frightened pensioner why she needs it urgently at 3 o’clock in the morning? run to the nearest ATM and perform certain operations there under the dictation of polite people from the technical support service.

The tricks of telephone scammers have been described many times and are based either on the fact that you are forced to call or send a message topaid number(they are playing with you in the dark), or, using your weaknesses or ignorance, they convince you to give moneyvoluntarily.

The divorce became the talk of the town: “Mom, I’m in the hospital (police, cannibal den, stuck elevator), put 1000 rubles on this number, then I’ll explain everything.” It’s a rare mother who will proudly respond to something like the heroine of the joke “You’re not my son anymore!”

Another classic of the genre is all kinds of lotteries, quizzes and sweepstakes. You are happily informed that you are the lucky owner of a crystal owl or a trip to Antarctica. You can receive your prize right now, you just need to call a certain number back. Where they will explain to you in detail where and how to go for the prize. Of course, all this will turn out to be not only a tale of wasted time, but also a debit of money from your personal account.

You can get acquainted with all types of telephone wiring in detail by typing the corresponding request in a search engine. We will continue to cover this pressing topic. Remember, our weakness or stupidity becomes fertile ground for attackers. Be smart, calculate the situation. And don’t hesitate to contact professionals—cellular companies employ decent people.

The favorite toast of professional telephone operators is FOR COMMUNICATION WITHOUT MARRIAGE. And on Signalman’s Day, which is only two weeks away, I will definitely raise a glass, congratulating my former colleagues. And I wish not only the absence of defects in microcircuits, transistors and other optical fibers. But also an honest and respectful attitude towards subscribers.

© Shadow. Photos from free access on the Internet.

Telephone fraud is a relatively new type of defrauding citizens of money or valuables, which flourished after the mass spread 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 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 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 extract 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.