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How to avoid scammers and what to do if you were scammed.
Easy money on the Internet is almost always a scam.
Pyramid schemes, online casinos, beauties from a dating site that promise to earn money on cryptocurrency, iPhones at half price, sites with free music or movies — all this is a chance to lose money. Somewhere you will get them out under an innocent pretext, somewhere they will threaten and blackmail, and somewhere they will try to hack and steal.
Attackers have hundreds of techniques in their arsenal, and new ones appear every day. You won't be able to tell them all in detail in one article. Therefore, we will briefly analyze the most striking red flags and popular traps of scammers — and give links to important materials for a more detailed study. We will also tell you about the basic rules of security on the Internet and what to do if you are still deceived.
You'll find out
What is Internet fraud?
On the Internet, crooks use the same techniques as in real life: they play on greed and fear. Only the purpose of fraud is not cash, but data from bank cards and electronic accounts. Money is transferred from them to fake accounts to be cashed out later — and it is very difficult to track the entire chain.
To face scammers, you don't need to specifically search for Internet hot spots. They can find you on social media, send you an email, and Skype you. Gradually, they will start to put pressure on you, rush you, and force you to make rash decisions. They succumbed to emotions and lost their vigilance — they lost money.
Any fraud is a criminal offense, which will be responsible for under Articles159-159. 6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. You can run into deception both on the street and on the Internet, so the fraudster can be held accountable for any of these articles or even several at once.
There is no separate article for Internet fraud in the Criminal Code. But there are specific articles that can most likely attract an online fraudster. Here are some examples.
Electronic payment fraud, where criminals use bank cards, virtual wallets, electronic transfers, or cryptocurrencies to launder money. If the crime is committed by a group or on a particularly large scale, the possible term of imprisonment is up to 10 years, and the fine is up to one million rubles.
Fraud in the field of computer information. These are frauds related to the storage, processing, modification or transmission of data in electronic form. Usually, data is stolen or altered to gain rights to the property. The penalty is the same: up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to one million rubles.
Types of online fraud
There are more of them than you can really remember, and progress does not stand still. Ten years ago, no one knew about neural networks, and now fraudsters use them to fake people's voices to ask for money in debt.
Fortunately, you don't need to remember everything. The main thing is to gain enough visibility and learn how to calculate the main patterns that scammers use. For example, in the same schemes, scammers always send a photo or card number with a request to lend money, where you need to make a transfer: for some reason, your "friend" cannot accept money to his phone number. Knowing this nuance, you will be able to more easily recognize fraud, even if the scammers come up with some new technology.
To train your eyesight, you need to read about divorces. Here is not a complete list of the most popular schemes on the Internet — click on the links to understand them in more detail.
Phishing. This is when a fraudster tries to cheat access to important information: usernames and passwords, bank card and passport data, verification codes, intimate photos, important correspondence — everything that can help them get money.
Classic phishing is considered to be fraud with the help of emails, messages in instant messengers and fake sites. For example, when a seller on Avito offers to pay for a purchase on the site avit0-d0stavka.mysite.com — this is one of the types of phishing. Another popular option is when you are asked to enter a username and password from the site or a number and code from the messenger to receive a gift.
Our phishing guide will help you understand how it originated, why it's called this, why it's so popular, and how to protect yourself from it. Read it to protect yourself.
Social engineering. One of the phishing methods. A person gives out all the data himself — under the influence of deception, threats and manipulations. When scammers ask for a loan until tomorrow on behalf of a friend, this is just social engineering.
According to Positive Technologies, in the third quarter of 2023, 37% of all attacks on companies were carried out using social engineering. And for ordinary people-92%. Half of these attacks occurred on phishing sites, and another quarter - on phishing emails.
This is due to the fact that it is easier to hack the human psyche than someone's computer. Even the most clumsy schemes work if you call several thousand people. Sooner or later, the fraudster gets to someone who is very tired after work or just used to trust authorities without disputes.
And if you spend effort and prepare for a divorce, even a person who is well acquainted with the techniques of scammers can part with money. Attackers carefully study the social networks of potential victims and search for information about them in merged databases. As a result, the swindler knows everything about a person: where he works and what the boss's name is, what he likes and what kind of music he listens to, what kind of car he drives and where he usually repairs it.
Such details help you ingratiate yourself with others. For example, you can write on behalf of your boss and order them to cooperate with the security services, and they tell them to transfer money to a secure account. Or pretend to be an employee of a car service station where you just left your car, and ask them to transfer the prepayment for a rare spare part.
Earn money online. The Internet is not a magical place where money is distributed. No one thinks about making you rich. There is no "loot"button.
You won't be able to make a living watching ads, completing monotonous tasks, promoting pyramids, and writing hundreds of fake reviews a day. Even if you are not deceived, they will pay you a penny. All dubious ways of earning money on the Internet were analyzed in one detailed article. And at the same time, they told us about the ones that really work.
Financial pyramids and HYIPs. Modern pyramids are disguised as investments in cryptocurrency, cashback services, chain stores, joint purchases, mining, and a game of accumulating money. If you are guaranteed a yield, and even much higher than that of bank deposits, this is a reason to be wary.
Recently, HYIPs have become more popular on the Internet — a sort of pyramid scheme on steroids. They live for a maximum of several months, but attract investors with a cosmic yield — up to tens of percent per day.
Hype creators often do not even hesitate and "honestly" say: "Yes, this is a pyramid scheme, only the first investors will have time to earn, so invest faster." This does not make the project any less fraudulent: there is no guarantee that the creators will pay anyone at all, and not hide with the money of depositors. Read more about HYIPs if you are still in doubt.
Fraud in social networks. Social networks are a convenient tool for communicating, including with strangers. Therefore, the same divorces that occur on the phone or in instant messengers flourish there. A "police officer" can write to you and send you a photo of your ID card and order you to cooperate. Or, say, a strange girl — and congratulate you on a big win, for which you just need to pay a commission, a couple of thousand rubles.
Attackers often use fake profiles in social networks. Imagine that you left a comment in the group of an aspiring artist. And soon she wrote you in private messages, thanked you and offered to draw a portrait for a modest fee. You transfer money, and the artist blocks you. It turns out that it wasn't her who wrote it, but the scammer who copied her profile. Here are some divorce schemes that are popular in social networks.
Fraud with cryptocurrencies. You can really make money on cryptocurrencies, but it's much easier to lose money. Some scammers claim to predict prices, others offer unique trading algorithms that never make mistakes, and still others invite you to magical exchanges where everyone earns. All such offers are a hoax.
Cryptocurrencies are anonymous — the transfer is almost impossible to track and even less realistic to return. This is a new and rather complex technology, so it is easy to deceive inexperienced users by writing more fashionable terms. They say that if you send a cryptocurrency to such and such an address, it will be run through the blockchain using mixers and proxy protocols, a smart contract for futures delivery will be executed — and twice as much money will be returned to you. Or something like that.
However, not all of us already have a crypto wallet with bitcoins. Therefore, scammers are trying to reach out to those who prefer to pay in rubles in the old-fashioned way. For example, the Changeri service allegedly looks for "forks" in cryptocurrency exchangers. It is not necessary to buy cryptocurrency: you just need to transfer rubles to the service's account, and the service will do the rest itself. Of course, you will not be able to withdraw the profit.
Charity. The Internet regularly publishes posts about raising money for the treatment of sick children. This is often done by scammers. The main red flag: if money is collected directly to bank cards or e-wallets, then it is very likely that it will go into the pocket of scammers.
When you see an ad, check the collection information. It is better if several options for transferring money are published, including to a current account and by phone number: this is how you can check the recipient's name.
If a charity foundation is listed, find its website and check if there is a collection for this child. Search for the child's photo on the Internet: you may have taken someone else's photo to collect it. If possible, compare the name of the payee with the name of the child and parents before sending the transfer.
Fraud on online dating sites. On such sites, you can meet your soulmate, or you can — a fraudster who will invite you to a restaurant and force you to pay a bill for tens of thousands of rubles.
Another interviewee, instead of a date, will offer to invest in a cool investment project and make a profit in a week: "I've been doing this for several months, I quit my job and I don't know grief, transfer the money as soon as possible."
The third party will agree to meet, but only in a certain movie theater. The main thing is to pay for tickets in advance and on a specific site, which, of course, belongs to fraudsters.
If the opposite person insists on going to a specific place instead of a park or a popular cafe, or even leads the conversation in the direction of investment, it is better to stop communicating.
Specific divorce schemes depend on the gender of the dating service user: we have compiled separate instructions for safe communication for men and women.
Extortionists and blackmailers. Even if you have an impeccable reputation, scammers will find dirt. And if they don't find it, they'll fabricate it. But usually blackmailers do not even try, but simply send out demands to pay: for example, a fine for watching adult videos. If one person out of a thousand is afraid, believes and transfers money - this is a success.
They also threaten you with criminal liability for comments in social networks: they say that you talked about discrediting the army, insulting the feelings of believers, spreading fakes or inciting hatred. The legend may look like this: an employee of the special services was browsing the Internet in his spare time and suddenly found your comment. If your colleagues see it, they will definitely put you in jail. Deleting a comment is pointless: it is already in the archives of the FSB and Roskomnadzor. But a kind employee for a modest fee is ready to remove it from there.
The main rule of dealing with ransomware is not to conduct any negotiations. Do not respond to their messages, do not try to show that you consider this type of activity unworthy: this will only amuse the criminal. Don't show that you're scared, upset, or angry: the blackmailer can use your emotions against you. And of course, in no case do you pay anything.
We have compiled a selection of the five most common extortion schemes.
Fake apps. Even in official stores for Android and iOS, there are applications that promise fast earnings: for example, through social payments, super-profitable investments or cryptocurrency mining. All of them are designed for theft.
Especially scammers like to fake applications of well-known companies, promising naive users unprecedented income after installation. It is easy to find dozens of Gazprom "apps" that offer to get their share of mining operations.
The only real defense against this is common sense. Don't download apps that have a lot of negative reviews, and don't enter your bank card details if they promise you free money.
Lotteries, quizzes, winning contests, gift cards. If someone unfamiliar is in a hurry to congratulate you on winning the contest or wants to give you a gift — do not rush to rejoice. Most likely, this is a fraudster who will ask you to pay a "win tax "or"prize delivery fee".
Lottery wins and winning contests do happen. But if they want to give you money, any commissions and fees can be deducted from this amount, and you will pay taxes later - and not to the benefactor, but to the state. And gifts from individuals are not taxed at all — no taxes, even if they give a lot of money and even if it is done by a stranger. Exceptions are real estate, cars, and shares that don't come from close relatives.
Sometimes bloggers are involved in fraudulent sweepstakes that the person has subscribed to for a long time and trusts. Our reader almost lost 60,000 rubles. One blogger published a story that draws 5,000,000 rubles among subscribers: just click on the link and try your luck. The reader went to the site and "won" $ 3150 — the operator immediately wrote to her and offered to help.
But at the final stage, there was a hitch: you had to pay a commission for transferring dollars to rubles. The girl refused — and rightly so: it soon became clear that the blogger was hacked, and the site belonged to fraudsters. Many subscribers lost hundreds of thousands of rubles.
If you want to learn how to easily distinguish fake promises from real opportunities to make money online, take the second lesson of our free course "How to protect yourself from scammers" - it's just about that.
Fake bloggers. With well-known bloggers, everything is clear: hackers place fraudulent ads without their knowledge and consent. But sometimes it turns out that the blogger himself is a fraud. Scammers can spend months blogging, creating the image of a successful millionaire, a professional investor, and generally their own guy in the board. All in order to one day give a link to a fraudulent site and steal money from subscribers.
Read the story of Elvira. She read a lot about fraud schemes, but still couldn't recognize in time that she was being manipulated by the author of the Telegram channel. As a result, Elvira believed in the success story, invested 30,000 rubles in the" business " of a fake millionaire and lost money.
Where to contact if you are a victim of fraud
If you suspect that you are a victim of fraud, immediately call the bank and block the card. After that, complain about intruders — even if there have been no suspicious transactions yet, and you just gave your card number to someone who doesn't know. It's better to be safe than to run out of money.
Different banks accept fraud claims differently. Somewhere you can write to the Internet chat or call the call center, and somewhere you will have to go to the department.
When you block the card, contact the police. An online fraud report should be submitted as early as possible, ideally as soon as possible. Maximum — within a day: the faster you report a crime, the more likely you are to punish fraudsters.
It is better to immediately contact the nearest police station at your place of residence. But if you are afraid to waste time and achieve nothing, at least send an email to the department "K" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
Not every call from a fraudster leads to a loss of money. Many people refuse to send a text message code or make transfers to unknown accounts. But even if the attacker did not succeed, he still tried to deceive the person, which means that he committed an unfinished crime. You can also be held accountable for this.
If someone tried to deceive you, write in the application as follows:"In accordance with part 3 Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, I ask to bring to criminal responsibility a person unknown to me who tried to take possession of my money by deception and abuse of trust." Enter your phone number, call time, and everything you know about the perpetrator. If you have a recording of a conversation or a detailed description of calls from a mobile operator, attach it to the application.
The police must accept your application and conduct a check in any case, even if you have not lost money. Be sure to request a notification card: this is a document that confirms that the application has been accepted. Without it, the application can easily "get lost", and the police can "forget" that you came.
If you are not satisfied with the work of the police or you have received an unjustified refusal to initiate criminal proceedings, please contact the prosecutor's office. You don't need to go anywhere, and you can send a complaint via the Internet. Attach scans of the application and the decision to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings to the complaint.
Can I get a refund from online scammers
So far, this is the case. According to the law "On the National Payment System", the bank is obliged to return the stolen money within 30 days — but only if the theft was not your fault: for example, a hacker broke into the bank's systems or infected an ATM with a virus.
If you gave the fraudster your card details, sms code, or transferred money to a "secure account", the bank is not obliged to return anything. Sometimes they can still meet a regular customer halfway and compensate a small amount, but this is definitely not an ordinary case.
Starting from July 24, 2024, the situation will change. The law "On the National Payment System" will continue to work, but another one will come into force. It will oblige banks to monitor customer transactions more closely. Many media outlets reported about it in the spirit of "banks will be required to return money stolen by fraudsters", but this is not entirely true.
In short — the database "On cases and attempts to transfer funds without the client's consent"will appear. It will include information about accounts related to fraud. If the client tries to transfer money to the account from the database, the bank will be obliged to freeze the transfer and warn about the risks.
If the client then confirms the transaction and the money goes to the scammers, the bank will not be responsible for this: the person was warned, he made the decision himself. But if you do not interrupt the transfer or do not warn the client, then yes-the bank will be obliged to return the money.
If the client transfers money to a fraudster's account that is not yet included in the database, the bank will not be required to send a warning, much less compensate for losses. So don't let your guard down — even after July 24, 2024.
How to get money back from a pyramid scheme. If you invested in an online hype at 10% per day or transferred cryptocurrency to Elon Musk so that he sent twice as much, then it is almost impossible to return the money: it has long passed through a dozen fake accounts and disappeared. And the scammers, most likely, have never been to Russia, and they simply do not care about the decision of the Leninsky District Court.
But if you took your contribution to the office, signed a contract, and then it turned out that the company is actually a pyramid scheme, then there are chances to return the money. But to do this, you will have to go a long and difficult way, which begins with a statement to the police, goes through many court sessions and ends with a writ of execution and bailiffs who must find at least some money from the organizers of the pyramid to transfer it to you. Our instructions will help you reach the end — we hope that you will never need them.
How to protect yourself from scammers on the Internet
Here are some basic tips to help keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
Don't trust fairy-tale promises. Quick earnings on the Internet do not exist. Only scammers promise to make you rich in a week without effort. An ad with the phrase "Earn money online without investment" with high chances means that you are carefully lured into a pyramid scheme or fraudulent network. There are a lot of them, and there are even courses that teach beginners to create branches of fraudulent networks on the Internet.
If you still have any doubts, use Piramidometer — our free service for checking investment offers. He will ask you a few questions: what the company promises, what it earns, and how you found out about it. After each response, Piramidometer changes its heart rate of suspicion — the more frequent it is, the more worried the service is that you may lose money.
Don't take your friends ' word for it. Scammers often hack accounts and instant messengers to pretend to be your friend and extort money. You can recognize intruders by unusual behavior: your friend suddenly found himself in the country, without money, his phone number changed, some new unexpected circumstances appeared. Sometimes a fraudster is given away by the fact that he forgot the rules of the Russian language.
Create a strong password. Reliable — does not mean unmemorable: the password Kak0yUmenyaDlinniyPar0l is just as reliable as hg00 No .w的地WSHGIBIBFA11R!!!f09*%. Security experts recommend using passwords that are at least 14 characters long — it will take years for hackers to crack them by brute force.
If you still don't want to bother remembering, use password managers — they will do all the work for you. Take a look at these nine proven options.
It is also important not to use the same passwords in the personal account of the bank and on the website of the district pizzeria. Small businesses usually do not invest much in information security, and if hackers break into the site of a pizzeria, they will immediately go to check the extracted passwords in all social networks, instant messengers and banks. It will be a shame if the password is correct.
Set up two-factor authentication. Sometimes this function is called "login confirmation" or"additional verification". Even if a hacker finds out your password, they won't be able to log in to your account: they'll have to enter the code from a text message, email, or app. You won't be able to find the code: it changes after each input attempt.
All popular email services, social networks, and financial applications support two-factor authentication. Go to settings, find this item and enable it.
It is the two-factor authentication codes that scammers try to lure out when they call and threaten, for example, to disconnect your phone number. Just in case, we remind you once again: you can never tell anyone the code from an SMS — especially if it is a code from public services or a bank.
Don't pay ransomware. Even if they got something valuable or you think that your nerves and time are worth more than a thousand rubles, which they demand from you. If you paid, you showed that you take the threats seriously. The ransomware will continue to pull money out of you. It's best not to start.
Increase your viewing experience and broaden your horizons. Learn more about how to resist extortionists and blackmailers in one of the lessons of the free course "How to protect yourself from scammers". We recommend that you complete this course in its entirety: then the scammers on the Internet will be practically unarmed in front of you.
And if you like to listen to podcasts, check out the eight most interesting issues of Schemata, a podcast about why smart people are led to stupid divorces.
Easy money on the Internet is almost always a scam.
Pyramid schemes, online casinos, beauties from a dating site that promise to earn money on cryptocurrency, iPhones at half price, sites with free music or movies — all this is a chance to lose money. Somewhere you will get them out under an innocent pretext, somewhere they will threaten and blackmail, and somewhere they will try to hack and steal.
Attackers have hundreds of techniques in their arsenal, and new ones appear every day. You won't be able to tell them all in detail in one article. Therefore, we will briefly analyze the most striking red flags and popular traps of scammers — and give links to important materials for a more detailed study. We will also tell you about the basic rules of security on the Internet and what to do if you are still deceived.
You'll find out
- What is Internet fraud?
- Types of online fraud
- Where to contact if you are a victim of fraud
- Can I get a refund from online scammers
- How to protect yourself from scammers on the Internet
What is Internet fraud?
On the Internet, crooks use the same techniques as in real life: they play on greed and fear. Only the purpose of fraud is not cash, but data from bank cards and electronic accounts. Money is transferred from them to fake accounts to be cashed out later — and it is very difficult to track the entire chain.
To face scammers, you don't need to specifically search for Internet hot spots. They can find you on social media, send you an email, and Skype you. Gradually, they will start to put pressure on you, rush you, and force you to make rash decisions. They succumbed to emotions and lost their vigilance — they lost money.
Any fraud is a criminal offense, which will be responsible for under Articles159-159. 6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. You can run into deception both on the street and on the Internet, so the fraudster can be held accountable for any of these articles or even several at once.
There is no separate article for Internet fraud in the Criminal Code. But there are specific articles that can most likely attract an online fraudster. Here are some examples.
Electronic payment fraud, where criminals use bank cards, virtual wallets, electronic transfers, or cryptocurrencies to launder money. If the crime is committed by a group or on a particularly large scale, the possible term of imprisonment is up to 10 years, and the fine is up to one million rubles.
Fraud in the field of computer information. These are frauds related to the storage, processing, modification or transmission of data in electronic form. Usually, data is stolen or altered to gain rights to the property. The penalty is the same: up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to one million rubles.
Types of online fraud
There are more of them than you can really remember, and progress does not stand still. Ten years ago, no one knew about neural networks, and now fraudsters use them to fake people's voices to ask for money in debt.
Fortunately, you don't need to remember everything. The main thing is to gain enough visibility and learn how to calculate the main patterns that scammers use. For example, in the same schemes, scammers always send a photo or card number with a request to lend money, where you need to make a transfer: for some reason, your "friend" cannot accept money to his phone number. Knowing this nuance, you will be able to more easily recognize fraud, even if the scammers come up with some new technology.
To train your eyesight, you need to read about divorces. Here is not a complete list of the most popular schemes on the Internet — click on the links to understand them in more detail.
Phishing. This is when a fraudster tries to cheat access to important information: usernames and passwords, bank card and passport data, verification codes, intimate photos, important correspondence — everything that can help them get money.
Classic phishing is considered to be fraud with the help of emails, messages in instant messengers and fake sites. For example, when a seller on Avito offers to pay for a purchase on the site avit0-d0stavka.mysite.com — this is one of the types of phishing. Another popular option is when you are asked to enter a username and password from the site or a number and code from the messenger to receive a gift.
Our phishing guide will help you understand how it originated, why it's called this, why it's so popular, and how to protect yourself from it. Read it to protect yourself.
Social engineering. One of the phishing methods. A person gives out all the data himself — under the influence of deception, threats and manipulations. When scammers ask for a loan until tomorrow on behalf of a friend, this is just social engineering.
According to Positive Technologies, in the third quarter of 2023, 37% of all attacks on companies were carried out using social engineering. And for ordinary people-92%. Half of these attacks occurred on phishing sites, and another quarter - on phishing emails.
This is due to the fact that it is easier to hack the human psyche than someone's computer. Even the most clumsy schemes work if you call several thousand people. Sooner or later, the fraudster gets to someone who is very tired after work or just used to trust authorities without disputes.
And if you spend effort and prepare for a divorce, even a person who is well acquainted with the techniques of scammers can part with money. Attackers carefully study the social networks of potential victims and search for information about them in merged databases. As a result, the swindler knows everything about a person: where he works and what the boss's name is, what he likes and what kind of music he listens to, what kind of car he drives and where he usually repairs it.
Such details help you ingratiate yourself with others. For example, you can write on behalf of your boss and order them to cooperate with the security services, and they tell them to transfer money to a secure account. Or pretend to be an employee of a car service station where you just left your car, and ask them to transfer the prepayment for a rare spare part.
Earn money online. The Internet is not a magical place where money is distributed. No one thinks about making you rich. There is no "loot"button.
You won't be able to make a living watching ads, completing monotonous tasks, promoting pyramids, and writing hundreds of fake reviews a day. Even if you are not deceived, they will pay you a penny. All dubious ways of earning money on the Internet were analyzed in one detailed article. And at the same time, they told us about the ones that really work.
Financial pyramids and HYIPs. Modern pyramids are disguised as investments in cryptocurrency, cashback services, chain stores, joint purchases, mining, and a game of accumulating money. If you are guaranteed a yield, and even much higher than that of bank deposits, this is a reason to be wary.
Recently, HYIPs have become more popular on the Internet — a sort of pyramid scheme on steroids. They live for a maximum of several months, but attract investors with a cosmic yield — up to tens of percent per day.
Hype creators often do not even hesitate and "honestly" say: "Yes, this is a pyramid scheme, only the first investors will have time to earn, so invest faster." This does not make the project any less fraudulent: there is no guarantee that the creators will pay anyone at all, and not hide with the money of depositors. Read more about HYIPs if you are still in doubt.
Fraud in social networks. Social networks are a convenient tool for communicating, including with strangers. Therefore, the same divorces that occur on the phone or in instant messengers flourish there. A "police officer" can write to you and send you a photo of your ID card and order you to cooperate. Or, say, a strange girl — and congratulate you on a big win, for which you just need to pay a commission, a couple of thousand rubles.
Attackers often use fake profiles in social networks. Imagine that you left a comment in the group of an aspiring artist. And soon she wrote you in private messages, thanked you and offered to draw a portrait for a modest fee. You transfer money, and the artist blocks you. It turns out that it wasn't her who wrote it, but the scammer who copied her profile. Here are some divorce schemes that are popular in social networks.
Fraud with cryptocurrencies. You can really make money on cryptocurrencies, but it's much easier to lose money. Some scammers claim to predict prices, others offer unique trading algorithms that never make mistakes, and still others invite you to magical exchanges where everyone earns. All such offers are a hoax.
Cryptocurrencies are anonymous — the transfer is almost impossible to track and even less realistic to return. This is a new and rather complex technology, so it is easy to deceive inexperienced users by writing more fashionable terms. They say that if you send a cryptocurrency to such and such an address, it will be run through the blockchain using mixers and proxy protocols, a smart contract for futures delivery will be executed — and twice as much money will be returned to you. Or something like that.
However, not all of us already have a crypto wallet with bitcoins. Therefore, scammers are trying to reach out to those who prefer to pay in rubles in the old-fashioned way. For example, the Changeri service allegedly looks for "forks" in cryptocurrency exchangers. It is not necessary to buy cryptocurrency: you just need to transfer rubles to the service's account, and the service will do the rest itself. Of course, you will not be able to withdraw the profit.
Charity. The Internet regularly publishes posts about raising money for the treatment of sick children. This is often done by scammers. The main red flag: if money is collected directly to bank cards or e-wallets, then it is very likely that it will go into the pocket of scammers.
When you see an ad, check the collection information. It is better if several options for transferring money are published, including to a current account and by phone number: this is how you can check the recipient's name.
If a charity foundation is listed, find its website and check if there is a collection for this child. Search for the child's photo on the Internet: you may have taken someone else's photo to collect it. If possible, compare the name of the payee with the name of the child and parents before sending the transfer.
Fraud on online dating sites. On such sites, you can meet your soulmate, or you can — a fraudster who will invite you to a restaurant and force you to pay a bill for tens of thousands of rubles.
Another interviewee, instead of a date, will offer to invest in a cool investment project and make a profit in a week: "I've been doing this for several months, I quit my job and I don't know grief, transfer the money as soon as possible."
The third party will agree to meet, but only in a certain movie theater. The main thing is to pay for tickets in advance and on a specific site, which, of course, belongs to fraudsters.
If the opposite person insists on going to a specific place instead of a park or a popular cafe, or even leads the conversation in the direction of investment, it is better to stop communicating.
Specific divorce schemes depend on the gender of the dating service user: we have compiled separate instructions for safe communication for men and women.
Extortionists and blackmailers. Even if you have an impeccable reputation, scammers will find dirt. And if they don't find it, they'll fabricate it. But usually blackmailers do not even try, but simply send out demands to pay: for example, a fine for watching adult videos. If one person out of a thousand is afraid, believes and transfers money - this is a success.
They also threaten you with criminal liability for comments in social networks: they say that you talked about discrediting the army, insulting the feelings of believers, spreading fakes or inciting hatred. The legend may look like this: an employee of the special services was browsing the Internet in his spare time and suddenly found your comment. If your colleagues see it, they will definitely put you in jail. Deleting a comment is pointless: it is already in the archives of the FSB and Roskomnadzor. But a kind employee for a modest fee is ready to remove it from there.
The main rule of dealing with ransomware is not to conduct any negotiations. Do not respond to their messages, do not try to show that you consider this type of activity unworthy: this will only amuse the criminal. Don't show that you're scared, upset, or angry: the blackmailer can use your emotions against you. And of course, in no case do you pay anything.
We have compiled a selection of the five most common extortion schemes.
Fake apps. Even in official stores for Android and iOS, there are applications that promise fast earnings: for example, through social payments, super-profitable investments or cryptocurrency mining. All of them are designed for theft.
Especially scammers like to fake applications of well-known companies, promising naive users unprecedented income after installation. It is easy to find dozens of Gazprom "apps" that offer to get their share of mining operations.
The only real defense against this is common sense. Don't download apps that have a lot of negative reviews, and don't enter your bank card details if they promise you free money.
Lotteries, quizzes, winning contests, gift cards. If someone unfamiliar is in a hurry to congratulate you on winning the contest or wants to give you a gift — do not rush to rejoice. Most likely, this is a fraudster who will ask you to pay a "win tax "or"prize delivery fee".
Lottery wins and winning contests do happen. But if they want to give you money, any commissions and fees can be deducted from this amount, and you will pay taxes later - and not to the benefactor, but to the state. And gifts from individuals are not taxed at all — no taxes, even if they give a lot of money and even if it is done by a stranger. Exceptions are real estate, cars, and shares that don't come from close relatives.
Sometimes bloggers are involved in fraudulent sweepstakes that the person has subscribed to for a long time and trusts. Our reader almost lost 60,000 rubles. One blogger published a story that draws 5,000,000 rubles among subscribers: just click on the link and try your luck. The reader went to the site and "won" $ 3150 — the operator immediately wrote to her and offered to help.
But at the final stage, there was a hitch: you had to pay a commission for transferring dollars to rubles. The girl refused — and rightly so: it soon became clear that the blogger was hacked, and the site belonged to fraudsters. Many subscribers lost hundreds of thousands of rubles.
If you want to learn how to easily distinguish fake promises from real opportunities to make money online, take the second lesson of our free course "How to protect yourself from scammers" - it's just about that.
Fake bloggers. With well-known bloggers, everything is clear: hackers place fraudulent ads without their knowledge and consent. But sometimes it turns out that the blogger himself is a fraud. Scammers can spend months blogging, creating the image of a successful millionaire, a professional investor, and generally their own guy in the board. All in order to one day give a link to a fraudulent site and steal money from subscribers.
Read the story of Elvira. She read a lot about fraud schemes, but still couldn't recognize in time that she was being manipulated by the author of the Telegram channel. As a result, Elvira believed in the success story, invested 30,000 rubles in the" business " of a fake millionaire and lost money.
Where to contact if you are a victim of fraud
If you suspect that you are a victim of fraud, immediately call the bank and block the card. After that, complain about intruders — even if there have been no suspicious transactions yet, and you just gave your card number to someone who doesn't know. It's better to be safe than to run out of money.
Different banks accept fraud claims differently. Somewhere you can write to the Internet chat or call the call center, and somewhere you will have to go to the department.
When you block the card, contact the police. An online fraud report should be submitted as early as possible, ideally as soon as possible. Maximum — within a day: the faster you report a crime, the more likely you are to punish fraudsters.
It is better to immediately contact the nearest police station at your place of residence. But if you are afraid to waste time and achieve nothing, at least send an email to the department "K" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
Not every call from a fraudster leads to a loss of money. Many people refuse to send a text message code or make transfers to unknown accounts. But even if the attacker did not succeed, he still tried to deceive the person, which means that he committed an unfinished crime. You can also be held accountable for this.
If someone tried to deceive you, write in the application as follows:"In accordance with part 3 Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, I ask to bring to criminal responsibility a person unknown to me who tried to take possession of my money by deception and abuse of trust." Enter your phone number, call time, and everything you know about the perpetrator. If you have a recording of a conversation or a detailed description of calls from a mobile operator, attach it to the application.
The police must accept your application and conduct a check in any case, even if you have not lost money. Be sure to request a notification card: this is a document that confirms that the application has been accepted. Without it, the application can easily "get lost", and the police can "forget" that you came.
If you are not satisfied with the work of the police or you have received an unjustified refusal to initiate criminal proceedings, please contact the prosecutor's office. You don't need to go anywhere, and you can send a complaint via the Internet. Attach scans of the application and the decision to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings to the complaint.
Can I get a refund from online scammers
So far, this is the case. According to the law "On the National Payment System", the bank is obliged to return the stolen money within 30 days — but only if the theft was not your fault: for example, a hacker broke into the bank's systems or infected an ATM with a virus.
If you gave the fraudster your card details, sms code, or transferred money to a "secure account", the bank is not obliged to return anything. Sometimes they can still meet a regular customer halfway and compensate a small amount, but this is definitely not an ordinary case.
Starting from July 24, 2024, the situation will change. The law "On the National Payment System" will continue to work, but another one will come into force. It will oblige banks to monitor customer transactions more closely. Many media outlets reported about it in the spirit of "banks will be required to return money stolen by fraudsters", but this is not entirely true.
In short — the database "On cases and attempts to transfer funds without the client's consent"will appear. It will include information about accounts related to fraud. If the client tries to transfer money to the account from the database, the bank will be obliged to freeze the transfer and warn about the risks.
If the client then confirms the transaction and the money goes to the scammers, the bank will not be responsible for this: the person was warned, he made the decision himself. But if you do not interrupt the transfer or do not warn the client, then yes-the bank will be obliged to return the money.
If the client transfers money to a fraudster's account that is not yet included in the database, the bank will not be required to send a warning, much less compensate for losses. So don't let your guard down — even after July 24, 2024.
How to get money back from a pyramid scheme. If you invested in an online hype at 10% per day or transferred cryptocurrency to Elon Musk so that he sent twice as much, then it is almost impossible to return the money: it has long passed through a dozen fake accounts and disappeared. And the scammers, most likely, have never been to Russia, and they simply do not care about the decision of the Leninsky District Court.
But if you took your contribution to the office, signed a contract, and then it turned out that the company is actually a pyramid scheme, then there are chances to return the money. But to do this, you will have to go a long and difficult way, which begins with a statement to the police, goes through many court sessions and ends with a writ of execution and bailiffs who must find at least some money from the organizers of the pyramid to transfer it to you. Our instructions will help you reach the end — we hope that you will never need them.
How to protect yourself from scammers on the Internet
Here are some basic tips to help keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
Don't trust fairy-tale promises. Quick earnings on the Internet do not exist. Only scammers promise to make you rich in a week without effort. An ad with the phrase "Earn money online without investment" with high chances means that you are carefully lured into a pyramid scheme or fraudulent network. There are a lot of them, and there are even courses that teach beginners to create branches of fraudulent networks on the Internet.
If you still have any doubts, use Piramidometer — our free service for checking investment offers. He will ask you a few questions: what the company promises, what it earns, and how you found out about it. After each response, Piramidometer changes its heart rate of suspicion — the more frequent it is, the more worried the service is that you may lose money.
Don't take your friends ' word for it. Scammers often hack accounts and instant messengers to pretend to be your friend and extort money. You can recognize intruders by unusual behavior: your friend suddenly found himself in the country, without money, his phone number changed, some new unexpected circumstances appeared. Sometimes a fraudster is given away by the fact that he forgot the rules of the Russian language.
Create a strong password. Reliable — does not mean unmemorable: the password Kak0yUmenyaDlinniyPar0l is just as reliable as hg00 No .w的地WSHGIBIBFA11R!!!f09*%. Security experts recommend using passwords that are at least 14 characters long — it will take years for hackers to crack them by brute force.
If you still don't want to bother remembering, use password managers — they will do all the work for you. Take a look at these nine proven options.
It is also important not to use the same passwords in the personal account of the bank and on the website of the district pizzeria. Small businesses usually do not invest much in information security, and if hackers break into the site of a pizzeria, they will immediately go to check the extracted passwords in all social networks, instant messengers and banks. It will be a shame if the password is correct.
Set up two-factor authentication. Sometimes this function is called "login confirmation" or"additional verification". Even if a hacker finds out your password, they won't be able to log in to your account: they'll have to enter the code from a text message, email, or app. You won't be able to find the code: it changes after each input attempt.
All popular email services, social networks, and financial applications support two-factor authentication. Go to settings, find this item and enable it.
It is the two-factor authentication codes that scammers try to lure out when they call and threaten, for example, to disconnect your phone number. Just in case, we remind you once again: you can never tell anyone the code from an SMS — especially if it is a code from public services or a bank.
Don't pay ransomware. Even if they got something valuable or you think that your nerves and time are worth more than a thousand rubles, which they demand from you. If you paid, you showed that you take the threats seriously. The ransomware will continue to pull money out of you. It's best not to start.
Increase your viewing experience and broaden your horizons. Learn more about how to resist extortionists and blackmailers in one of the lessons of the free course "How to protect yourself from scammers". We recommend that you complete this course in its entirety: then the scammers on the Internet will be practically unarmed in front of you.
And if you like to listen to podcasts, check out the eight most interesting issues of Schemata, a podcast about why smart people are led to stupid divorces.
