Memo "How not to become a victim when conducting financial transactions on the Internet"

What could be simpler today than buying a desired product online? Even a child or a user not entirely confident with personal computer skills can make such a purchase. This process is driven by the fact that most people today increasingly experience a shortage of free time, and spending it on shopping trips, especially in search of ordinary goods, has become an unaffordable luxury for many. In addition, buying or selling goods online has become very easy thanks to a huge number of marketplaces that make this process as quick and convenient as possible, providing the opportunity to pay using bank payment cards and deliver goods anywhere in the world.

 

The most common methods of committing crimes

 

1. "Prepayment" (seller fraud)

The essence of this method is that the attacker acts as a buyer. On one of the online marketplaces, they find a seller and copy their contact details. After that, they search for the seller on messengers (social networks), posing as a buyer. During the correspondence, the attacker states that they liked the item and wish to purchase it, and claims to have already made a prepayment (often sending a screenshot of an electronic card receipt for the funds transfer). In order to receive these funds, the seller is sent a link to a fake page (which looks like one of the sections of the official website of the online marketplace or a banking institution), where the seller needs to enter their card number, cardholder name, expiration date, and the CVV code on the back of the card (as well as information from the SMS message received from the bank to confirm the prepayment). After obtaining the confidential information, the attacker steals the funds.

2. "Delivery" (Buyer Deception)

The attacker posts an advertisement on an online marketplace offering a product at an extremely attractive price. After a potential buyer starts communicating via the platform's internal chat, the attacker, under various pretexts, persuades them to continue the conversation on a messenger or social network. During the conversation, the scammer convinces the buyer to make a prepayment or arrange for delivery. To allay the buyer's doubts, they inform them about a supposedly new fund holding (escrow) service that has appeared on the trading platform, meaning that if delivery does not occur, the trading platform will automatically return the funds to the card. The buyer is then sent a link to a fake page that mimics the official page of the trading platform or online banking, where they are required to enter their card details (subsequently, actions are carried out according to the seller deception scheme).

3. Use of Social Networks

Having gained unauthorized access to a user's personal internet accounts, the attacker sends requests to all of the victim's virtual "friends" asking for bank payment card details under various pretexts. This could be a photo of the card or simply its number, expiration date, and other details. While most schoolchildren do not have bank cards, they often use the cards of their relatives and friends, wanting to help their "friend." Sometimes criminals simply ask for a mobile phone number and either try to steal money from the phone account or use it as an intermediary, directing other people's money to this account and then transferring it further to cover their tracks (in almost all cases of theft of funds from mobile phone accounts, the victims also provided the criminal with personal codes received via SMS messages to their phone).

4. A call from a "bank representative" requesting urgent provision of necessary information

Criminals, impersonating bank employees, inform individuals that certain actions need to be taken with their bank payment card, as someone is either attempting to steal funds from it, applying for a loan, or making a suspicious payment. To disguise their activities, criminals use the "number spoofing" feature, which can result in any telephone number set by the attacker being displayed on the victim's mobile phone screen. These may be numbers of banking institutions or other subscribers who do not actually make calls, and the call itself will not appear suspicious based on its external characteristics. After obtaining the necessary information about the card details, criminals proceed with the theft.

To avoid becoming a victim of cybercriminals when conducting transactions online, you should:

- Communicate with buyers (sellers) only through the internal chat of the trading platform (trading platforms often block access to fraudulent resources);

- When communicating with a user, go to their profile and pay attention to the creation date (if it was created a few days ago, this should raise additional caution);

- Be extremely careful with any situation that requires entering card details or information provided by the bank (SMS code, login or password for online banking). The most reliable way to protect your funds is to never disclose your card details to anyone;

- Ask the interlocutor for their phone number if it is not indicated in the advertisement, and then call this number to make sure it is real and belongs to the user with whom you are making a transaction (very often, attackers use phone numbers rented for a short period and do not have physical access to them);

- use a separate bank card for online purchases, which does not store funds and to which regular income such as salary, scholarship, or pension is not credited;

- avoid clicking on unknown internet links provided in correspondence, allegedly for receiving advance payment or arranging delivery.

- if you have clicked on such a link and see a notification that there is a money transfer in the system and you need to enter your bank payment card details to receive it, do not enter the requested information under any circumstances, as this is a direct way to lose your own funds.

- If you have entered your bank card details on a fake website or disclosed them to an unauthorized person, you must immediately block the card by calling your bank or through online banking.

- If you receive a call from a "bank", under no circumstances should you disclose any information about yourself or your bank payment card to anyone. A genuine bank employee will already know your bank payment card number, at the very least, and will never ask for confidential information over the phone.

- Clarify who you are speaking with, then hang up and call back the number that appeared on your screen (this way you will connect with the actual owner of the number, not with fraudsters who used it to hide their real number) to clarify the issue.

- If you are subjected to psychological pressure with threats that you will incur financial losses in a few seconds, that someone will take out a loan in your name, or that your card will be blocked if you do not provide the requested information, do not worry, this is a common trick used by criminals whose main goal is to make you feel uncertain and afraid of losing your savings.