Pensions of St. Petersburg became “taste pieces” for scammers

In St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, scammers, who pose as employees of the Social Fund, have intensified. Under the pretext of checking seniority, they are trying to lure citizens from SMS codes to get to their savings. This was warned in the Department for Combating the Illegal Use of Information and Communication Technologies of the GU MIA of Russia in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region.

The scheme of deception is designed for credulity and inattention. The attacker calls the potential victim and informs about the need to urgently check the data on labor activity for the correct calculation of pensions. For greater persuasiveness, he can name real personal data of a person and even offer to make an appointment.

However, the main goal is to get the interlocutor to dictate four digits from the received SMS. The fraudster presents them as a record confirmation code. In fact, these numbers open access to an account on “public services” or banking applications.

Experts advise no one to report codes from SMS, no matter who the caller is. Real government employees never ask them over the phone. In case of a suspicious call, it is better to immediately end the conversation and independently check the information on the official website of the Social Fund or through Public Services.

Fraudsters are constantly coming up with new legends to take over our data. The police have already warned about the scheme, where scammers call through messengers and present themselves as the support service of “State Services”. They threaten to hack an account and ask to turn on the camera for “video identification” or go to a third-party site.