Fraudsters hack into cell phone accounts

A new fraudulent scheme is gaining popularity in Russia. Malefactors fraudulently gain access to the accounts of cellular subscribers - and if until the end of April such cases were isolated, now hundreds of personal accounts are stolen weekly. About it informs publication "Izvestia" with reference to sources close to the two operators.

Fraudsters call subscribers, pretending to be the operator's customer support service. The reasons for the call are different: a proposal to change the tariff plan, temporary blocking of the card, connecting options, discounts, the need to replace the card. Regardless of the wording, the result is the same: the interlocutor asks for a code from the SMS to confirm the changes.

Of course, the code is not used to issue a discount on the tariff, but to enter your personal account from another device. Fraudsters are not interested in the account balance, but in the call and message forwarding function in order to intercept authentication codes to confirm transactions. This allows you to withdraw money from the victim’s cards, issue loans to them, subscribe to paid services, and more.

Moreover, scammers often do not even bother logging into their account, convincing the victim to set up call forwarding or SMS on their own. To do this, during the conversation, the attackers ask you to dial the USSD command and the number to which calls and messages will be redirected.

To avoid this kind of fraud, do not provide any codes from the SMS to the operator's technical support staff. If this still needs to be done, it is better to call the hotline yourself, or contact support in the official application.