We remind you that at this time you need to be especially vigilant - scammers do not have days off.
We talk about three frequent cheating schemes: after each one, instructions for protection are waiting.
SCHEME 1. PHISHING SITES
What is the point. Phishing sites are fake and visually complete copies of the sites of well-known companies. For example, online stores, marketplaces, banks, airlines.
In order to attract as many potential victims as possible to their resource, scammers announce “closed sales”. There they offer to buy popular new items or rare items with big discounts.
Those who want to save money “buy” because the advertising of “sales” in social networks and the fake site itself look very convincing - exactly like the real page of the original site.
If you fall into this trap, you can lose not only money for an order that will never be delivered to you, but also the login and password from your account in a real online store.
And if you enter card details in a fake form, scammers can steal money from it.
How to protect yourself:
• Don't be manipulated. If an ad or website is rushing you to make a purchase, this is a reason to be wary.
• Check the site address. Be careful when you visit the site: there should be no errors in the address.
• Buy through the app. If possible, pay for orders in the company's mobile application, which you downloaded from the official store.
• Do not switch to instant messengers. Representatives of large companies do not offer to transfer communication to instant messengers - only scammers do this.
What to do if caught. If you realized in time that the site is fake, just close it and do not enter any personal data there.
If you managed to enter your card details, even if you didn't buy anything, block your card so that scammers don't get to your money.
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SCHEME 2. FAKE GAMES
What is the point. Imagine such a situation. Dmitry thinks what to buy his wife for the New Year.
Then he receives a message in the messenger from a well-known jewelry brand, of which he is a regular customer.
It turns out that the store is holding a drawing of gift certificates: you can win a card with a face value of 5 to 20 thousand dollar.
Dmitry is not averse to trying: his wife will be delighted with such a gift, and he will save.
Dmitry enters his contacts and easily answers the test questions. To increase the chance of winning, he is asked to share the contest link with ten people.
Dmitry sends the website address to friends.
Soon one of his friends writes that this is a trap of scammers: there are a lot of errors in the site name in the link, the page itself is also full of shortcomings, and there is no information about the competition in the official social networks of the store.
It turns out that Dmitry sent his contacts to scammers. Now they will surely bombard him with letters, SMS and calls. Good thing I didn't lose any money.
How to protect yourself:
• Study the official pages of the company. Check information about promotions on the website or in the social networks of the brand. If you doubt that the draw exists, write to the store's support service and clarify this issue.
• Do not trust instant messengers. Remember that big brands are unlikely to send news about the draw in messengers. To do this, they rather use SMS or email. But even in this case, you should be careful.
• Don't send chain letters. You should be wary if you are asked to tell a large number of acquaintances about the action. This is a typical way for scammers to spread their links.
What to do if caught. If scammers got your contacts, you need to protect yourself from future spam attacks.
To do this, connect the "Checking incoming calls" service from Sber and set up spam filters in your mail. And continue to be more careful.
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SCHEME 3. LIMITED PREPAID OFFER
What is the point. If earlier swindlers tried by any means to convince the victim to follow the link and leave the card details there, now they are acting more decisively.
Fraudsters immediately ask for an “advance payment” for the item they like, supposedly in order to guarantee that the buyer will definitely get it.
Such deception seems obvious and quickly detectable. But scammers are excellent psychologists and always put pressure on patients. For example, they offer new products or products of released brands at incredibly low prices.
In messages, they often use phrases like: Hurry up to buy, the discount is valid only today, there are only 100 items in stock, the sale will end in 2 hours.
Many gullible people forget to take precautions and rush to make a purchase when they see a discount on a coveted item. Of course, they will never receive their orders and money.
How to protect yourself:
Remember, free cheese is only found in a mousetrap.
The main signs of fraud when buying online manually: too low a price, a request to transfer an advance payment, persuasion to go to instant messengers or to a third-party site.
• Buy only from trusted stores. And before using a new service or site, study it carefully and read the reviews of other customers.
• Doubt - give up the purchase. Try not to make your decision fast. If you are worried that you may miss a profitable offer, it is likely that a scammer "led" you into this situation.
What to do if he is caught. If you paid for the purchase, stop the card and call the police.
The probability of returning the money will be higher if you provide information about the scammers: names or aliases on the Internet, correspondence history, checks, and so on.
If you are an organization or have sensitive accounts and need to protect them through large companies specializing in cybersecurity, we advise you to deal with keeper company.
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