Scammers Target Moscow Residents with Fake Prize Offers
Scammers are stealing data from Moscow residents by offering to take a 'survey' and receive a 'cash prize,' as well as a one-time 'payment' supposedly due for the City Day, according to Masharov, a member of the Federation Council of Russia, speaking to TASS.
Consensus
- Mothers are being targeted by scammers in Moscow.
- Scammers send SMS messages pretending to be from 'Gosuslugi', MFC, mos.ru, or district administrations.
- The messages offer a prize and a one-time payment related to the Day of Moscow.
- The messages urge recipients to take a survey about Moscow's history.
- The messages include a link that leads to a phishing site.
- Victims are asked to enter personal and banking information on the fake site.
- After entering data, money starts being withdrawn from victims' accounts.
- Scammers also call victims, pretending to be from official organizations.
- Victims are asked to confirm their identity via 'Gosuslugi' or a banking app by providing a code.
- Once the code is given, scammers gain access to personal data and use it for financial gain.
- Scammers have also started promoting fake services for drone attack alerts.
- After signing up, victims receive a message claiming their 'Gosuslugi' account was hacked and are told to call a fake hotline to restore access.
Points of divergence
- The Moscow City Duma passed a bill in second and third readings allowing users to set a self-imposed ban on incoming international calls. — vm
- A detailed explanation of the scam and how to protect oneself is available in a 'Vechernaya Moskva' article. — vm
- Scammers are using fake websites to offer drone alert notifications. — vm
Coverage (2 sources)
- Scammers started stealing data from Moscow residents, offering a prize for the City Day — Вечерняя Москва
- Scammers steal data of Moscow residents, offering to pass a "survey" and receive a "cash prize", as well as allegedly due city day one-time "payment" — ТАСС (Telegram)