Warnings issued on loan scammers' strategy of voluntarily blocking loan applications
Revised Article
Hey there! Scammers in Russia are cooked up a fresh scheme to fleece unsuspecting victims. They're trying to coax users into lifting their self-imposed credit ban, with the goal of illegally raking in funds. This alarming information comes straight from RBC, via Alexander Vorasko, the linchpin of Solar AURA's digital threat monitoring squad at Solar Group.
To pull off these dodgy deals, crooks have devised a few ruses. average Joes could receive trick calls, supposedly from representatives of the tax authority. These villains claim that there's a debt or error on the user's credit history, and to rectify it, they need the user to lift the self-ban.
Playing on urgency and the threat of fines, they pressure the victim into following their orders, which could ultimately lead to a loan being taken out in the user's name and the money being transferred to the devious masterminds.
RBC also reported another tactic: scammers pretending to be bank employees. They say that suspicious transactions have been spotted on the user's account, and to protect their hard-earned cash, they need to temporarily lift the self-ban. Scammers could also disguise themselves as employees of various state-backed organizations, claiming that the self-ban prevents the user from getting preferential loans, subsidies, or state payments.
On March 1, a law on self-ban on credit issuance was enacted in Russia. Citizens request a self-ban by submitting an application through the "Gosuslugi" portal or at an MFC. These measures were put in place to combat fraud and gain better control over financial choices. In the initial days of the new law, 1.7 million Russians sought restrictions on credit and loan issuance.
The idea of giving Russians the option to mention in their credit history a refusal to receive credit and loans has been on the table since 2021. In February 2024, President Vladimir Putin signed the related law. And in October of the same year, the government nodded to the procedure for establishing a self-ban on consumer credit.
Though details on Russia-based scams exploiting credit issuance bans are scant, it's clear that scammers employ tactics like phishing and malware to ensnare their prey. Case in point: the group Hive0117, who love to target Russian organizations with DarkWatchman malware, using phishing campaigns to exploit vulnerabilities during less vigilant periods.
In other words, scammers, being the crafty bunch they are, could easily adapt their strategies to exploit any financial restrictions. If you have more specific details or context about the scams you've encountered, it might help in uncovering a more accurate answer. Stay tip-top alert, folks!
- The recent scam in Russia, as reported by RBC, involves tricking victims into lifting their self-imposed credit ban, a move that is part of the general-news and crime-and-justice landscape, as the scammers aim to illegally obtain funds through businesses and finance.
- The practice of scammers pretending to be bank employees to pressure victims into lifting their self-imposed credit ban, as seen in the ongoing scam in Russia, is a matter of concern for the business and finance sector, as it could potentially lead to fraudulent loan transactions and losses.
