What to do if you get a call from scammers

The main schemes of telephone scams:

1. Fraudsters call the potential victim's mobile phone and introduce themselves as employees of banks and other financial organizations. Fraudsters use software such as SIP telephony to make phone calls, which allows them to duplicate subscriber numbers of Kazakhstani financial institutions. During the conversation, they report an attempt to debit funds from your card and ask you to change the password in your personal account, provide a new password and SMS code. Scammers can even offer their services for remote connection to your gadget to quickly resolve the issue. To do this, they ask you to download the AnyDesk and TeamViewer applications. Having gained access to your accounts, scammers can withdraw all the money and even apply for a loan in your name.

Tip: If you receive a call allegedly from bank employees, immediately interrupt the conversation. Remember, a real bank employee will never call you to clarify your personal data. The bank has your complete financial file. This information is valuable only to scammers!

2. Fraudsters make a call to a potential victim's mobile phone and introduce themselves as law enforcement officers. They can inform you that a complaint has been received against you or your relatives or friends and an investigation is underway under Article 190 Part 3 – fraud on a large scale. You urgently need to come to the *** police station. For an urgent solution to the issue, until the application is completed, you need to transfer the "nth amount" to a certain account. On the one hand, it is quite an impressive amount to make an impression, on the other hand, it is not so unaffordable that it could not be paid quickly. Mostly, elderly people who are ready to give all their money just to help out a loved one become victims of this kind of deception. An additional stressful factor is usually the unavailability of the subscriber for calls – scammers manage to find out this too.

Attackers are well acquainted with the psychology of people: they speak quickly and confidently, using professional terms, sometimes they press, rush to make a decision, threaten, often include sounds in the background that mimic the work of a busy office or police station, and more.

Tip: If you received a call allegedly from law enforcement agencies, then do not panic in any case. Ask which police department the potential suspect is in, what article is imputed to him, when the act was committed, whether the assistance of a lawyer was provided and how to contact him. You should also make an independent call to the hotline of the organization on whose behalf you received the call: the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the district police department.

3. Fraudsters use modern technologies to use voice robots that "communicate" with interlocutors according to certain scenarios, or audio recordings. Fraudulent bots can call, for example, on behalf of the police department, inform about the presence of a certain fine and ask you to press, say, "1" for detailed information.

After that, another voice "assistant" is connected, warning that the information they want to disclose is super confidential, and in order to confirm their identity, it is necessary to answer a number of questions, among which may be questions about your payment data. Whatever reasons scammers use to attract voice robots, they want to get important confidential information from you: IIN, ID number, full card details, SMS code. It is also important for attackers to get clear phrases from you: "Yes" and "I confirm". To do this, bots can ask questions such as: "Do you live in Almaty?", "Have you made payments in the last 24 hours?", "Do you want to collect your prize?", "Do you hear me well?", "Do you confirm this information?" and so on.

Tip: It is not difficult to recognize a voice robot (spammer). End the conversation and block the number. If you still decide to continue "communicating" with the bot, then be careful when talking, for example, use "Hello" instead of the word "Yes". You can also use ambiguous words: "Uh, sort of", "Uh-huh", "Mhm" and so on, this knocks down the algorithm of fraudulent automations. If possible, conduct a conversation in the official language.

Basic safety rules for citizens to avoid becoming a victim of fraud

Never tell anyone:

The password for your personal account in Internet banking or mobile application.
Your personal data, details of your bank card, card expiration date, CVC/CVV code (three digits on the back of the bank card, card authentication code), code word and the balance of funds.
An SMS code to confirm the operation being performed: payment, transfer, etc.
Be careful!