Yekaterinburg residents targeted by scam calls
An unexpected call from strangers can catch people off guard
Residents of Yekaterinburg have started receiving messages warning about a leak of personal data from their previous place of work. The Urals residents are urged to protect themselves.
Scammers are writing on behalf of police officers and the «financial intelligence service.» They try to scare their victims by claiming that their information is being used to finance illegal activities. The main argument in this blackmail is the threat of prison.
To supposedly avoid problems, the fraudsters convince people to urgently update their «main account» at the Central Bank. To do this, they demand that victims withdraw all their money from an ATM and deposit it into another account.
The criminals may also send an «official video» allegedly from the Central Bank with instructions on how to carry out the operation. In reality, the person simply transfers their funds to the scammers« accounts, after which the fraudsters immediately disappear.
«The main goal of the fraudsters is to drive a person into a state of stress and force them to hand over their money with their own hands. That»s why they often use names in their stories that resemble those of government agencies. Remember that real employees of the Central Bank and government bodies never ask you to do anything with your money,« commented Natalya Kovaleva, an expert at the Ural Branch of the Bank of Russia, to E1.RU.
Kovaleva clarified that there are no «special» accounts at the Central Bank. She advised: if strangers start talking about money over the phone or begin to scare you, it«s best to end the conversation immediately.
