Fraudsters in Russia have developed a new scheme to deceive bank customers, which they are implementing under the pretext of updating social cards. Dmitry Revyakin, head of the corporate interests protection department of VTB Bank, has told the Russian Rbc.ru about this.

The criminals call landline numbers and pose as social service workers, after which they convince bank customers that they need to update their social cards, which can be identical for all beneficiaries or for students, pensioners and other categories of citizens. They also convince citizens that the social card can be attached to the bank card.

If the customer is hooked and agrees to update his social card, he is asked to give his mobile number, explaining that it is necessary to send an SMS code to the phone and inform that the new card is ready. However, that code is actually needed for accessing the customer's online banking account.

Then the criminals try to find out the card number and code from the customer, which are also necessary to access the customer's bank account. If they manage to get this data as well, then they are able to steal the money from the customer's account.

"Usually, it is the elderly customers that are affected by such calls, therefore, in order to protect yourself from such threats, you should always check the information received from strangers and do not disclose confidential information to anyone over the phone," Dmitry Revyakin warned.

He also advised to carefully read incoming messages received after such calls: they always contain the details and purpose of the transaction. If the SMS was received from the bank, it is necessary to call the bank personally or check the details from the bank's customer service office.

Citizens of Armenia should also be careful, because similar fraud mechanisms are also being implemented in Armenia, and a number of citizens have already suffered from such schemes.