A trojan virus that mimics push notifications from banks is spreading in Russia, reports Izvestia.

The newspaper notes that scammers are increasingly combining technology with psychological manipulation. In the case of the trojan virus, the phone screen is locked, and then notifications appear, supposedly indicating withdrawals from the bank account. Afterward, the phone's owner receives a call from a fake bank employee requesting payment information to "protect" the funds.

Denis Kalemberg, CEO of SafeTech, explained that when the phone screen is locked, scammers only have partial access to the device.

"The scheme works regardless of how much money is in the account: push notifications show small amounts, but people get scared that the 'system has been hacked' and that scammers will withdraw all funds unless stopped," said a representative of the Financial Literacy Development Association.

They added that victims typically catch such viruses by visiting infected websites or downloading unlicensed software.

Last week, Sberbank warned that in nearly half of the cases, scammers convince victims to install a mobile payment app on their smartphone and link a bank card owned by the fraudsters. Then, they provide the victim with the card details and a confirmation code from an SMS, after which the person enters this information into the installed contactless payment app. The victim then deposits cash into the scammer's account via an ATM, linked to the contactless payment app on their phone. As a result, this transaction is identified as one performed by the mobile device owner.