PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE WARNS
THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE WARNS: "When carrying out financial transactions using computer technology, it is necessary to exercise vigilance, as cases of theft of funds have become more frequent."
In recent years, the number of crimes committed using computer technology has significantly increased. The most common are thefts of funds held in citizens' bank accounts. The methods and mechanisms used by criminals to steal funds are diverse.
Thus, criminals quite often use special devices (skimmers) that allow them to memorize and copy information from the magnetic stripes of citizens' bank cards when they are used in ATMs (miniature video cameras, keyboard overlays, and card readers). The information copied by criminals from the magnetic stripe is subsequently transferred by them to duplicate cards ("blanks"), which gives them the opportunity to freely steal funds from bank accounts. In this regard, before performing operations at ATMs and information kiosks, it is necessary to ensure that there are no foreign objects on the keyboard, in the area of the card slot, and in the working area in general.
Often, criminals obtain bank card details contained on the cards themselves. In particular, to make purchases in a number of online stores, it is sufficient to provide the alphanumeric codes contained on the front of the bank card (its number and expiration date), as well as on the back in the area of the magnetic stripe. In this situation, to avoid becoming a victim of criminals, you should never leave your bank card unattended, thereby eliminating the possibility for attackers to record these details.
Recently, fraudsters have been widely using so-called fake websites and duplicate websites to obtain bank card details. For example, it is quite common for attackers to deliberately create websites offering services on behalf of fictitious financial organizations, with these services most often related to international money transfers. In some cases, criminals replace the websites of legitimate financial organizations with duplicate websites. By using the services of such websites, citizens voluntarily provide their bank card details, as well as information about bank card passwords, to attackers, who then immediately "empty" their accounts. To avoid becoming a victim of fraudsters in these situations, before using the services of financial organizations on the Internet, for example, to make a money transfer, pay utility bills, etc., it is necessary to carefully study the information available online about the organization and its website, including reviews. It is necessary to use reliable websites with secure communication channels. For example, one of the signs of a secure channel is the presence of the "https://" prefix in the address. At the same time, fraudsters often use the "http://" prefix (without the Latin "s") when creating duplicate websites. Also, you should not allow the system to automatically save your login and password on the Internet, which are used to access your card account, as auto-saving increases the risks of fraudsters obtaining confidential information.
Prosecutor of the Department for Supervision of
Legislation Enforcement
Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus for
Vitebsk Region
Vladislav Naryzhny