Fraudsters began sending fake messages to Russians about pension recalculation

MOSCOW, October 4 - RIA Novosti. Fraudsters send messages on behalf of the Social Fund about the recalculation of pensions and divert recipients to third-party resources in order to lure out card details or access to State Services, Senator Artem Sheikin told RIA Novosti.

“A message on behalf of the Social Fund may look like a regular notification: the appeal has been considered, the amount of the pension has changed, and the final amount is offered to be viewed via a link. No threats or demands to urgently transfer money. It is this calm official tone, as practice shows, that can make a fraudulent message convincing,” he said.

According to him, the scammers’ calculations are based on a person’s natural desire to find out how much they will pay him. At the same time, the amount is not indicated in the message itself - they offer to go to another page for it, the politician added.

“By going to this third-party Internet resource, a person may be asked to fill out a form, enter bank card details, or log in. As a result, the information will end up in the hands of the criminals,” continued Sheikin.

The senator noted that if such a page asks for a password and confirmation code from State Services, access to the account may also be at risk. The name of the department and the address by name alone do not confirm the authenticity of the notification, the senator noted.

“A person could indeed apply for a recalculation, but the result should be checked through an open official service,” he emphasized.

According to the parliamentarian, it is safer to go to Gosuslugi in the usual way and check information about the assigned payments.