Fraudsters began offering families with children a subsidy to repay their mortgage. Under this pretext, attackers lure personal data from citizens.
Scammers launch contextual advertising and messenger channels masquerading as government social support services or official bank portals. Families are promised a compensatory subsidy to pay off the mortgage. Then the scammers send a phishing link with authorization through Gosuslugi, after which the victim’s account is taken away, funds are written off, or microloans are issued in her name.
How the scheme works
The mortgage subsidy fraud scheme is new, there are no separate statistics on it yet. But the general context is indicative: Gosuslugs clones are now the dominant method of deception, accounting for a significant share of all discussions of fraud. Practice shows that, at best, only every third victim contacts the police or bank at all, that is, official statistics are underestimated.
In all such seasonal surges - rent before the school year, mortgage subsidies, rumors about family mortgages - scammers become more active during periods of uncertainty. When a decision is being prepared, but has not yet been officially announced, the information vacuum is filled by attackers with fake inside information.
How not to fall for tricks
- Check the terms of any government benefits and subsidies only on the State Services or on the Central Bank's Financial Services portal culture." Open these sites directly - type the address in the browser's address bar yourself, rather than following a link from an advertisement, a message in a messenger or a letter.
- Look carefully at the domain when going to the authorization page. Clones of "Gosuslug" usually differ in the domain zone or contain extra characters.
- Do not tell anyone the code from SMS under the pretext of confirming the application - government services do not ask for it that way.
- Image a self-ban on issuing consumer credits and loans through “Government Services”. This directly closes the outcome of such schemes - issuing a microloan to a hacked account.
What to do if the money has already been stolen
- Submit a police report - it will be useful in a dispute with a bank or microfinance organization.
- Send a claim to the bank according to Law No. 369-FZ. If there are signs of a transfer without the client’s consent, the bank is obliged to suspend the operation for two days and notify the client. If the client does not refuse the transfer, the bank is obliged to execute it - except for one case: if the recipient is listed in the Central Bank database, the transfer is permanently blocked. If the bank has not fulfilled this obligation, it must return the stolen amount within 30 days.
What to do if a loan has been issued for you
If a loan or microloan has been issued for you via an online application, send a claim to the lender demanding that the agreement be declared invalid due to the lack of expression of the borrower’s will and improper execution of the electronic signature.