5 most popular schemes of money divorce in housing and communal services: be vigilant

[Lord777]

The most profitable vein in the field of obtaining finance is the communal sector. Owners and tenants of residential areas are forced to pay bills issued for housing and communal services, sometimes even automatically, which encourages attackers to come up with schemes for selecting money. Every day, schemes for deceiving citizens are expanded and updated. Let's take a look at the most popular fraud schemes:

It's time to replace or check the tracking tag​

Metering devices have a service life, during the injection of which the metering meter can give out information both underestimating and overestimating indicators. Therefore, after the meter's service life expires, it is customary to replace it or perform calibration (verification).

Knowing this, the scammers came up with the following scheme, hiding behind non-existent firms or one-day firms, brochures are scattered in mailboxes about the need to replace or check the metering meter, and phone calls are possible. If the owner makes a call to the phone number indicated in the brochure, they are informed that only a small proportion of the metering meters show correct readings after checking, and it is better to replace the meters immediately. But if the owner insists only on checking, the master can only make an appearance of checking.

The fraud scheme is simple, a one-day company is created with a similar name to the Criminal Code, it does not have the necessary documents for carrying out these works, thus the replacement or verification of the meter is considered invalid, and among other things, it will promise a fine for breaking seals. Often gunners and burglar thieves act as masters.

You can find out the service life of the meter from the product data sheet or by calling your Management Company. In addition, when receiving such a brochure, pay attention to the following:

• personalized information on the brochure, including the owner's address and full name, counter number, and verification date;
• the date of verification coincides with the end-of-life period of the product from the passport;
• availability of company details, TIN, OGRN, etc.;
• the presence of typos and inconsistencies, such as collective verification, is agreed upon by homeowners and notified to those absent from the meeting;
• in modern reality, there are no queues;
• the presence of the ID card of the master who arrived to you.

The correct tactic is to call the Management Company yourself if you need to replace or check the accounting counter, without using third-party numbers or advertising, and use the list of approved companies on their advice.

Payment using false banking details​

Malefactors take out the receipt from the owner's mailbox, replacing it with their own, sometimes completely imitating the payment document of the Criminal Code. The owner receives such a receipt and makes a payment to the fraudsters ' accounts. Forgery is found out only upon receipt of the original receipt or during the appearance of arrears.

When paying with a receipt, pay attention to the invoice by comparing it with the previous receipt, or use the payment template when paying via bank cards. In cases of non-connection of accounts, or their change, the Management Company must notify the owner about this. In all other cases, you must call the Management Company.

Mythical Debt​

Delay in payment for more than 2 months gives the supplier the right to stop working with the owner, that is, turn off the light or gas. Fraudsters use the following scheme to extort money from the victim, namely by sending out a newsletter on behalf of the company about the resulting debt. The mailing list can be either in paper format or in the form of SMS. The mailing list contains your email address, contact phone number, and a link (phishing link). If the victim calls the specified phone number or clicks on the link, they will be asked to urgently pay the debt using a bank card.

If you receive such messages, make a direct call to the supplier's company or your Management Company for clarification. You can check any arrears by knowing your personal account number or contract number.

Repair program at reduced prices​

An information sheet is sent out to homeowners or calls are made to their home phones informing them that due to the need for routine repairs of housing premises, repair of plastic windows, purging of ventilation or diagnostics of gas equipment by representatives of the Criminal Code, the city water utility, the administration is invited to hold these events at a reduced price, below the market price. This type of fraud is primarily aimed at senior citizens, beneficiaries and pensioners. After receiving the owner's consent, the owner is asked to transfer the advance payment to a specific account and wait for representatives to arrive to conclude the contract.

Each such call must be checked, namely, make a call to the organization that conducts preferential work, necessarily at the phone number indicated on the official website or in the payment document received earlier.

Miracle device​

The quality of the services provided is strictly regulated by SanPiNs and GOST standards, deviation from these norms causes dissatisfaction and irritation, fraudsters posing as representatives of water, gas, electricity suppliers or the substation itself, taking advantage of the imperfection of the services received, enter the apartment to allegedly check the water quality, measure the resistance of electric current or check gas leaks. After checking, the scammers report that the water is not suitable for drinking, gas passes through, and the voltage in the network is not enough, and since, to solve this problem, it is necessary to replace all pipes or all electrical wires, they offer to purchase miracle filters or other equipment.

Most often, a miracle item does not cost anything to check, but such modifications can really cause harm to the owner of the premises, if this equipment is installed, for example, on a gas boiler.

Each representative of the supplier's company or management company has a special certificate, in addition, at the request of the owner, he must present a passport, and in any case, it is necessary to make a call to the company in order to clarify the work carried out by the representative.

All fraudulent schemes in the field of housing and communal services can be combined according to the following criteria:

• attempts to copy the official forms of real organizations;
• using single companies in the scheme, checking such companies is not a problem, just go to the tax service website;
• excessive care for the customer, offering preferential programs, discounts, service without queues and on the first call;
• fear of official services and calling the police, when trying to make a call to an organization using a valid number that was not received from a fraudster, makes them immediately retreat or even run away.

Any fraud scheme is primarily designed for the victim's superficial knowledge of the issue, not the desire to verify the information received from the fraudster, and not care.

By making a call to the management Company or the supplier's company, you can immediately destroy the entire scheme, so scammers talk a lot, convincing you that they are right. Paying attention to the signs of fraud described above will allow you not to get caught in the deception scheme.