Seizing funds from citizens’ bank cards is a “scheme” that criminals are constantly improving, inventing new ways to gain trust, interest or intimidate people in order to gain access to bank card details. But fraudsters do not forget the old “proven” ways.
A few rules that will help you not to become a victim of criminals and save money.
In order to gain access to your money, criminals can pose as bank employees, police officers, tax inspectors and anyone else and offer you to clarify personal data, update them, improve cooperation with the banking institution, solve other issues, “give” gifts, bonuses or additional services or vice versa – to threaten with fines, blocking of the card and other troubles. Scammers may offer to purchase goods at unusually low prices, pay a “deposit”, “advance payment” or “purchase insurance”.
Scammers have a lot of “Legends”, so remember:
- when talking to a stranger, always first find out who you are dealing with – the place of work, position, surname and first name of the person, after which, if in doubt, stop the conversation, call the institution where your interlocutor supposedly works and find out whether what he reported is really true.
- do not share with third parties data that fraudsters can use to gain access to your personal bank account, such as bank card details, expiration dates, codes and passwords. No one has the right to ask you for your card code or personal data, especially over the phone.
- do not provide third parties with information that can give access to your phone SIM card, in particular, the information that service centers of mobile operators are interested in when replacing lost or damaged SIM cards. By obtaining a duplicate of your SIM card, criminals can sometimes gain access to your bank account.
in the event that third parties require confidential information from you, call the customer service center of the banking institution. - of course, never hand over your bank card, passport and other documents that contain confidential information to strangers.
- do not confirm the transfer of funds if you have the slightest doubt that they will reach the addressee or that the addressee is the person to whom you intend to send money. Check again and only then make the transfer.
do not follow dubious links that come to you in various ways in e-mail or on social networks – they may contain viruses specially designed to crack codes and passwords. - do not accept without checking offers to take part in “winless lotteries”, “raffles of valuable prizes and gifts”, it is not clear what bonus funds are credited for, as well as rewards in which you did not participate in the draw and other similar events – these can be traps of scammers, whose ultimate goal is to get hold of your funds.
don’t pay obscure “down payments” or “deposits” for something that was just offered to you at a ridiculously low price by strangers over the phone. It can also be a trap for fraudsters.
- in the event that you have become a victim of a fraudster, immediately report this to the police, as well as to the banking institution with a request to block transactions with your card.
The police urge you to be alert and use common sense if you feel in danger or find yourself in an unusual situation. Don’t let scammers fool you.
Communications Department of the Lviv Oblast Police