Anna:
Recently I received a strange notification in the Google calendar: "For today, the withdrawal of $ 2000 is scheduled for receipt" and some kind of link.
It is clear that this is spam: everything is written with errors and in general I did not plan to withdraw money. But I was lost and automatically followed the link.
A strange site has opened. It said that a transfer was being made to my account, but a commission must be paid, and then the money will be credited to the card. There was a postscript - if I do not pay the commission, my account will be blocked. I immediately called the bank, they told me that they were scammers.
On the same day, my colleague received a similar notification in the calendar, only the link opened a different one. The message stated that he won $ 2500. To get them, you need to make a payment from your card for $ 5-something rubles. The site had reviews from different people who had already received money.
He clicked on the link "make a payment". A form was opened that had to be filled out. Enter card number, email, etc. He did not enter anything, and it is so clear that this is a scam.
Typically, this spam comes in the mail. We didn't understand how it got into the calendar and how to block these messages?
Financial Culture Expert:
Anna encountered spammers who send links to phishing sites through popular services and try to lure out other people's money. If she or her colleague entered their card details, fraudsters would be able to access their accounts and withdraw all funds that were on them.
Cybercriminals decided to act through Google Calendar, an online service for scheduling appointments, events, and cases. The cybercriminals took advantage of the fact that anyone can invite a person to a meeting through the calendar - just know the e-mail. Spam filters do not consider such invitations suspicious and do not block them. The user does not expect a catch, because several real invitations per day can come to his calendar and he is used to such notifications.
Spam scammers use not only the Google calendar, but also other social services, including popular instant messengers, through which you can freely send messages to users.
To avoid falling into the trap of spam scams, follow these important rules:
Cybercriminals are constantly inventing new fraudulent schemes. For more information on how to recognize fraud, see the articles "Fraud with bank cards online" and "How to protect yourself and your loved ones from financial fraud."
Recently I received a strange notification in the Google calendar: "For today, the withdrawal of $ 2000 is scheduled for receipt" and some kind of link.
It is clear that this is spam: everything is written with errors and in general I did not plan to withdraw money. But I was lost and automatically followed the link.
A strange site has opened. It said that a transfer was being made to my account, but a commission must be paid, and then the money will be credited to the card. There was a postscript - if I do not pay the commission, my account will be blocked. I immediately called the bank, they told me that they were scammers.
On the same day, my colleague received a similar notification in the calendar, only the link opened a different one. The message stated that he won $ 2500. To get them, you need to make a payment from your card for $ 5-something rubles. The site had reviews from different people who had already received money.
He clicked on the link "make a payment". A form was opened that had to be filled out. Enter card number, email, etc. He did not enter anything, and it is so clear that this is a scam.
Typically, this spam comes in the mail. We didn't understand how it got into the calendar and how to block these messages?
Financial Culture Expert:
Anna encountered spammers who send links to phishing sites through popular services and try to lure out other people's money. If she or her colleague entered their card details, fraudsters would be able to access their accounts and withdraw all funds that were on them.
Cybercriminals decided to act through Google Calendar, an online service for scheduling appointments, events, and cases. The cybercriminals took advantage of the fact that anyone can invite a person to a meeting through the calendar - just know the e-mail. Spam filters do not consider such invitations suspicious and do not block them. The user does not expect a catch, because several real invitations per day can come to his calendar and he is used to such notifications.
Spam scammers use not only the Google calendar, but also other social services, including popular instant messengers, through which you can freely send messages to users.
To avoid falling into the trap of spam scams, follow these important rules:
- Install antivirus software on all gadgets you use.
- Disable the automatic addition of appointments to your calendar. In this case, they will not go there until you accept the invitation.
- Don't accept meeting invitations from people you don't know.
- Do not follow links from emails and notifications from unknown senders. These may turn out to be malicious links with a dangerous virus that steals secret data from the gadget.
- Do not enter card details on suspicious sites. Always check the address bar of your browser. A secure resource address begins with https: // and has a closed padlock icon in the address bar.
Cybercriminals are constantly inventing new fraudulent schemes. For more information on how to recognize fraud, see the articles "Fraud with bank cards online" and "How to protect yourself and your loved ones from financial fraud."
