"Cash reward" for survey empties accounts: what is known about the new fraud scheme

The State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine warns citizens about new fraudulent schemes for stealing money. This was reported by UNN with reference to the agency's Telegram channel.

Details

Fraudsters, allegedly on behalf of a bank, distribute messages about a "cash reward" for completing a short survey. The scheme looks like this: the victim goes to a website, completes the survey, and then is asked to enter a phone number, an SMS code, and a PIN code.

Such messages contain links to a phishing bait page, stylized using the bank's official symbols. Then, fraudsters use the obtained data to link the user's account to a new device or for online authorization in the bank's application. This allows them to withdraw funds from the victim's account.

How to avoid fraudsters

The State Special Communications recommends acting according to the following algorithm:

• check the website address before entering payment card data or passwords – phishing pages may look like real ones;
• trust only official sources, and also check information about surveys and payments on the official websites of institutions;
• do not follow links from messages, but search for the desired site yourself through a search engine.

Recall

Earlier, UNN reported that fraudsters create fake Telegram bots that imitate official chat bots of banks and institutions to steal funds. To do this, they copy logos, descriptions, etc.