Bank of Russia cautions against new phone fraud scheme
A new telephone fraud scheme has emerged. Fraudsters calling bank clients introduce themselves as police officers or representatives of a law enforcement agency and say that criminal proceedings have been initiated against them following a Bank of Russia request.
In doing so, wrongdoers try to obtain from credit institution clients’ personal data, bank card details, transaction history details, etc. They use this information to steal money from individuals’ accounts.
The regulator has informed banks about the rise in telephone fraud cases based on this scenario; it recommends that customer service procedures take this scenario into account and citizens be warned about the risks of personal / bank data disclosure.
The Bank of Russia would like to stress that it does not submit any applications concerning transactions to law enforcement authorities without the consent of a credit institution’s customer. An unknown person referring in a telephone conversation to a Bank of Russia-initiated criminal case is none other than a wrongdoer.
The regulator further reminds consumers that personal data or bank card data should under no circumstances ever be disclosed to unknown people over the telephone, no matter what the pretext is or whoever such interlocutors claim to be.