The most favorable offers of goods and services in the Network may turn out to be fraud. Our reader, who preferred not to give his name, tells us about common deception schemes.
Some advanced users know that there is another Internet, its dark side. I don't mean Tor. In the vastness of the ordinary Internet, there are boards and forums where people hang out who provide not entirely legitimate services.
The simplest example is a cheap taxi. For 300-700 rubles, you will be driven around the city from 1 to 2 hours in a comfort or business class car.
These forums also offer other services: booking hotels with a 50-75% discount from the official price, air travel with a 40-50% discount, and much more. Plus, Telegram has a bunch of different channels, which are full of manuals on how to make very decent money in legal and not very legal ways.
The person who first encounters this, just explodes the brain. He understands that here it is-happiness, here is a storehouse of freebies! And the brain draws such amounts that make your head spin. But there is a downside to this.
Scheme 1. The Double
On sites that offer huge discounts on hotels, flights, and rental services, there are people who organize the provision of these services. Each seller has contacts that can be used to contact them. Usually this is Telegram, ICQ , and in rare cases Jabber.
Scammers actively monitor such sellers and make duplicates of their Telegram channels. For example, the seller writes his contact on the forum in the form @travelvasya, the fraudster registers @travelvasja and @travelvasyabot. In this case, the profile photos will be identical, plus the inscription in the profile "Send orders only here". A user who searches for a seller's contacts in Telegram by nickname may not notice the trick.
Sellers also track their doppelgangers and report in their threads that people with these nicknames should not write, as they are scammers. Scammers also track what sellers write and come up with new nicknames. Here is a cycle of nicknames in Telegram.
The accounts of some sellers in ICQ and Jabber are periodically hacked, so you can write to the contacts that are indicated, but you can already get to the hacked channel.
Here is a typical example of a merchant who described where he was hacked and where scammers work on his behalf.
Dark Internet
Then the user who accidentally wrote to the wrong place starts corresponding with the wrong person. He asks about what interests him. When the user has matured, the most important thing begins.
A small digression: each forum has a certain guarantor, through whom it is desirable to conduct all transactions. The meaning of the guarantee is as follows: the user agrees on certain services of the seller, for example, hotel rental for 50,000 rubles. The user writes to the guarantor that he has agreed with the seller to rent a room in such and such a hotel on such and such dates and must pay a certain amount. The guarantor adds its own 10% and issues an invoice for 55,000 rubles to the buyer.
The buyer transfers money to the guarantor, who writes to the seller that he has received the money and is ready to work. For the buyer, such an intermediary is a guarantee of security. If the seller suddenly fails to fulfill its obligations and the transaction breaks down, the buyer will receive their money back after deducting the guarantor's commission, since the seller will receive money from the guarantor after fulfilling all its obligations.
Now we return to the divorce scheme. The buyer and the pseudo-seller agreed that the cost of services will be 50,000 rubles. When the fraudster understands that the transaction is 100% completed, then his task is to dissuade the buyer from the services of the guarantor. They offer to give an additional discount, such as 5,000 rubles, and explain to the buyer that it is profitable for them. The buyer understands that, firstly, he took a cheap hotel, and secondly, he will also receive a discount, so he transfers money directly to the fraudster.
Scheme 2. Take me as a student
This scheme is common in Telegram. Its essence is simple. A channel is being created in which an allegedly unknown hacker, a successful carder (one who works with payment cards) talks about earning money on the Internet, shares life hacks, talks about security, and so on. He advertises himself through other groups that distribute information, thereby attracting new subscribers to his channel.
All that he tells you can be found on the Internet, if you search well. The schemas are really working. If you read them, it takes a lot of time to implement them. After pressing a couple of buttons on the keyboard, money will not fall from the sky.
Of course, this person writes that he earned a lot of money in this way - up to 300,000 rubles a month, but now he is not interested in these schemes, so he merges them.
Telegram Fraud
Having pumped the channel and inflated the situation there, the hacker suddenly arranges an attraction of unprecedented generosity. The following messages appear:
Cheating on the Internet
Here is a group with 34,534 members. Of these, ten of the most agile ones are engaged in this task. Maybe more. Then everyone gets a discount of 75,000 rubles. I've seen courses for both 300 bucks and 100,000 rubles - it all depends on the greed and size of the group.
And then these newcomers are told supposedly exclusive information, which in fact is not. Just from various kinds of materials from the Internet, you can create your own author's course, have an average understanding of network security, understand carding schemes and sell such a training program right and left.
From my experience, it takes a week to understand security, carding, parcel forwarding methods, material purchase exchanges, and computer configuration. This is 3 hours a day for a person who did not know anything at all before.
As a result, people are sold publicly available things at the price of an alleged exclusive from the promoted Telegram channel.
Scheme 3. And shvets, and reaper, and on the duda igrets
A forum dedicated to the dark side of the Internet is supposedly registered. The user will get to it and see branches where they share earning schemes and sell any services. It looks like a cool forum with a bunch of topics, reviews, and its own guarantor. But in fact, it is filled by one or more people. All feedback from third-party users is strictly moderated.
The main task of this forum is to promote several topics that are being deceived.
Here is an example of such a forum:
And here is what it was created for:
The idea is this: there is a shadow forum where there is a lot of useful information and there is an opportunity to buy, for example, Apple equipment at a 60% discount. This is everyone's dream! Or top up your card with someone else's money with a profit of up to 60%.
And then the game of one actor begins. With one of them, you negotiate the purchase of equipment or the transfer of money to your card. To the guarantor, who is also the seller, you unsubscribe about the transaction and send money, and then no money, no equipment.
At the same time, after the transfer of funds, either all your messages are put on pre-moderation, or your account is blocked.
Some advanced users know that there is another Internet, its dark side. I don't mean Tor. In the vastness of the ordinary Internet, there are boards and forums where people hang out who provide not entirely legitimate services.
The simplest example is a cheap taxi. For 300-700 rubles, you will be driven around the city from 1 to 2 hours in a comfort or business class car.
These forums also offer other services: booking hotels with a 50-75% discount from the official price, air travel with a 40-50% discount, and much more. Plus, Telegram has a bunch of different channels, which are full of manuals on how to make very decent money in legal and not very legal ways.
The person who first encounters this, just explodes the brain. He understands that here it is-happiness, here is a storehouse of freebies! And the brain draws such amounts that make your head spin. But there is a downside to this.
In this environment, I am already a person with experience, but I also fell for the bait. Below I will analyze three of the most popular fraud schemes.
Scheme 1. The Double
On sites that offer huge discounts on hotels, flights, and rental services, there are people who organize the provision of these services. Each seller has contacts that can be used to contact them. Usually this is Telegram, ICQ , and in rare cases Jabber.
Scammers actively monitor such sellers and make duplicates of their Telegram channels. For example, the seller writes his contact on the forum in the form @travelvasya, the fraudster registers @travelvasja and @travelvasyabot. In this case, the profile photos will be identical, plus the inscription in the profile "Send orders only here". A user who searches for a seller's contacts in Telegram by nickname may not notice the trick.
Sellers also track their doppelgangers and report in their threads that people with these nicknames should not write, as they are scammers. Scammers also track what sellers write and come up with new nicknames. Here is a cycle of nicknames in Telegram.
The accounts of some sellers in ICQ and Jabber are periodically hacked, so you can write to the contacts that are indicated, but you can already get to the hacked channel.
Here is a typical example of a merchant who described where he was hacked and where scammers work on his behalf.
Dark Internet
Then the user who accidentally wrote to the wrong place starts corresponding with the wrong person. He asks about what interests him. When the user has matured, the most important thing begins.
A small digression: each forum has a certain guarantor, through whom it is desirable to conduct all transactions. The meaning of the guarantee is as follows: the user agrees on certain services of the seller, for example, hotel rental for 50,000 rubles. The user writes to the guarantor that he has agreed with the seller to rent a room in such and such a hotel on such and such dates and must pay a certain amount. The guarantor adds its own 10% and issues an invoice for 55,000 rubles to the buyer.
The buyer transfers money to the guarantor, who writes to the seller that he has received the money and is ready to work. For the buyer, such an intermediary is a guarantee of security. If the seller suddenly fails to fulfill its obligations and the transaction breaks down, the buyer will receive their money back after deducting the guarantor's commission, since the seller will receive money from the guarantor after fulfilling all its obligations.
Now we return to the divorce scheme. The buyer and the pseudo-seller agreed that the cost of services will be 50,000 rubles. When the fraudster understands that the transaction is 100% completed, then his task is to dissuade the buyer from the services of the guarantor. They offer to give an additional discount, such as 5,000 rubles, and explain to the buyer that it is profitable for them. The buyer understands that, firstly, he took a cheap hotel, and secondly, he will also receive a discount, so he transfers money directly to the fraudster.
The buyer begins to write personal messages on the forum to the real seller: "Where is my ticket?» Seller explains to him that he did not conduct any negotiations with him. And then the buyer understands that the greed of the fraer has ruined. At the same time, you won't go to the police, because the buyer also broke the law.
Scheme 2. Take me as a student
This scheme is common in Telegram. Its essence is simple. A channel is being created in which an allegedly unknown hacker, a successful carder (one who works with payment cards) talks about earning money on the Internet, shares life hacks, talks about security, and so on. He advertises himself through other groups that distribute information, thereby attracting new subscribers to his channel.
All that he tells you can be found on the Internet, if you search well. The schemas are really working. If you read them, it takes a lot of time to implement them. After pressing a couple of buttons on the keyboard, money will not fall from the sky.
Of course, this person writes that he earned a lot of money in this way - up to 300,000 rubles a month, but now he is not interested in these schemes, so he merges them.
Telegram Fraud
Having pumped the channel and inflated the situation there, the hacker suddenly arranges an attraction of unprecedented generosity. The following messages appear:
Cheating on the Internet
Here is a group with 34,534 members. Of these, ten of the most agile ones are engaged in this task. Maybe more. Then everyone gets a discount of 75,000 rubles. I've seen courses for both 300 bucks and 100,000 rubles - it all depends on the greed and size of the group.
And then these newcomers are told supposedly exclusive information, which in fact is not. Just from various kinds of materials from the Internet, you can create your own author's course, have an average understanding of network security, understand carding schemes and sell such a training program right and left.
From my experience, it takes a week to understand security, carding, parcel forwarding methods, material purchase exchanges, and computer configuration. This is 3 hours a day for a person who did not know anything at all before.
As a result, people are sold publicly available things at the price of an alleged exclusive from the promoted Telegram channel.
Scheme 3. And shvets, and reaper, and on the duda igrets
A forum dedicated to the dark side of the Internet is supposedly registered. The user will get to it and see branches where they share earning schemes and sell any services. It looks like a cool forum with a bunch of topics, reviews, and its own guarantor. But in fact, it is filled by one or more people. All feedback from third-party users is strictly moderated.
The main task of this forum is to promote several topics that are being deceived.
Here is an example of such a forum:
And here is what it was created for:
The idea is this: there is a shadow forum where there is a lot of useful information and there is an opportunity to buy, for example, Apple equipment at a 60% discount. This is everyone's dream! Or top up your card with someone else's money with a profit of up to 60%.
And then the game of one actor begins. With one of them, you negotiate the purchase of equipment or the transfer of money to your card. To the guarantor, who is also the seller, you unsubscribe about the transaction and send money, and then no money, no equipment.
At the same time, after the transfer of funds, either all your messages are put on pre-moderation, or your account is blocked.