Ombudsman warns of 'safe' account scams

Fraudsters often try to convince victims to urgently transfer money to so-called “safe,” “reserve,” or “single” accounts, but such schemes are not used by banks or government agencies. Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia Yana Lantratova told RIA Novosti journalists about this.

According to her, attackers may pose as bank employees and claim that they are allegedly trying to steal money from a client’s account. After this, they offer to urgently transfer funds to another account for “protection”.

Lantratova emphasized that there is no “safe account”. Real employees of banks and government agencies never request codes from SMS and push notifications, PIN codes, bank card data, logins and passwords for applications, the ombudsman recalled.

Another sign of fraud is a request to install a special program for “account protection,” “phone verification,” or video calling. Such applications can provide attackers with remote access to the device and banking services.

Scammers can also pose as employees of law enforcement agencies, government services or delivery services. At the same time, they often know in advance some of the person’s data, including name, address or information about recent purchases, the agency’s interlocutor noted.

“People are frightened, rushed and not given time to think. That is why the first and most important rule of financial security is not to make decisions about money during an unexpected call,” Lantratova recommended.