According to a New Kaspersky* survey, every fifth respondent in Russia has tried to play phone or online scammers. At the same time, men did this more often than women — 26.5% against 14.5%. Cybersecurity experts draw attention to the fact that such actions can put a person at risk and cause a lot of trouble.
How else do they react? Almost one in ten (8%) respondents swore at intruders, 6% humiliated them, and 4% talked to them about life. Another 2% tried to persuade them not to engage in fraud. At the same time, the majority of respondents (61%) immediately hang up the phone or stop answering on the Internet as soon as they realize that scammers are contacting them. However, it is worth noting that men do this less often than women (50% and 69%, respectively).
"If a person tries to make fun of intruders or insults them, then they risk suffering from retaliatory actions. For example, last year, the numbers of people who played phone scammers were later used by the latter as substitutes — during calls to other subscribers. As a result, later victims of real intruders started calling the "pranksters" with demands to return the money, "notes Dmitry Galov, a cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky Lab.
"The indignation of potential victims of fraud is justified, but the best strategy in such a conversation is to simply hang up the phone. Edifying conversations will not help in the fight against fraud and are unlikely to affect intruders who make thousands of calls every day. We would like to point out to our clients that no matter what convincing arguments the interviewee makes, you should not tell them your bank details, account passwords, SMS codes, or other authentication data. As a mobile operator, we remind you that fraudsters can also call under the guise of a support service. If there is the slightest doubt, we recommend interrupting the conversation, calling the service line or writing to the experts in the chat, " advises Zhanna Burtseva, head of the telecommunications fraud prevention service of the mobile operator Tele2.
Experts also recommend that users:
How else do they react? Almost one in ten (8%) respondents swore at intruders, 6% humiliated them, and 4% talked to them about life. Another 2% tried to persuade them not to engage in fraud. At the same time, the majority of respondents (61%) immediately hang up the phone or stop answering on the Internet as soon as they realize that scammers are contacting them. However, it is worth noting that men do this less often than women (50% and 69%, respectively).
"If a person tries to make fun of intruders or insults them, then they risk suffering from retaliatory actions. For example, last year, the numbers of people who played phone scammers were later used by the latter as substitutes — during calls to other subscribers. As a result, later victims of real intruders started calling the "pranksters" with demands to return the money, "notes Dmitry Galov, a cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky Lab.
"The indignation of potential victims of fraud is justified, but the best strategy in such a conversation is to simply hang up the phone. Edifying conversations will not help in the fight against fraud and are unlikely to affect intruders who make thousands of calls every day. We would like to point out to our clients that no matter what convincing arguments the interviewee makes, you should not tell them your bank details, account passwords, SMS codes, or other authentication data. As a mobile operator, we remind you that fraudsters can also call under the guise of a support service. If there is the slightest doubt, we recommend interrupting the conversation, calling the service line or writing to the experts in the chat, " advises Zhanna Burtseva, head of the telecommunications fraud prevention service of the mobile operator Tele2.
Experts also recommend that users:
- be critical of extremely generous or intimidating offers on the internet;
- don't click on links from suspicious messages, even if they were sent by friends;
- use special solutions that will prevent you from clicking on a phishing link and tell you if the number has received complaints about fraud - all this is available in Kaspersky Premium.
