How to avoid fraud in VK: review of schemes, ways to combat scammers

Cybercrime is one of the most pressing problems today. Attackers are coming up with more and more sophisticated ways to get your money and personal data, and it’s difficult to bring them to justice, because covering your tracks online is as easy as shelling pears.

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Users of social networks encounter fraud with enviable frequency, and VKontakte is one of the most vulnerable resources in this regard - there is hardly at least one user who has never received messages from hacked friends asking to borrow money or dubious offers.

Even if you think that your account is of no interest to scammers, you are mistaken: your personal messages, photos of documents, personal data - attackers can use all this against you. The variety of types of tricks is amazing - banal data theft, blackmail, malicious links, dubious SMS about debiting funds, requests to transfer money from friends and outright extortion.

When faced with some types of scams, you may not even realize that you have been scammed, so letting your guard down can have unpleasant consequences.

Financial fraud is the most popular scam in VK, but mass theft of data is also very popular now - attackers can sell it, and you will subsequently face intrusive calls from suspicious companies. Also, this data can be used for identity theft and various manipulations.

Let's look at what types of VK fraud exist, how to avoid becoming a victim of scammers, and what to do if you cannot avoid it.

Types of fraud in VK

Various tricks and scams of VK are a dime a dozen, and every year there are only more of them. Each of us has a rough idea of what could happen in theory, but when faced with it in reality, it is sometimes difficult to identify the pitfall and quickly navigate. What options for the development of events could there be?

Fake charity

Charity is now a trend, users are loyal to advertising of various foundations that raise funds for seriously ill children, adults dying of rare diseases, homeless animals, etc. Many people donate funds to charity - this is a noble cause, but, unfortunately, scammers have learned profit from this too.

Sometimes entire groups or landing pages are created offering to donate at least a small amount for the treatment of serious illnesses in specific people, most often children. And many fall for it, without a second thought transferring a variety of amounts to the accounts of the attackers. And this is sad, because in this case you do not even suspect that you have become a victim of fraud - only the impression remains that you have done a good deed.

Even if you discover a trick, you will not be able to return the funds - the attackers are difficult to track, all photographs, as a rule, are stolen from real people who do not even suspect that someone is making money from their misfortune.

To avoid this, you need to pay attention to the official documents of the foundation (if fundraising is carried out by an organization) or specific people in whose interests the funds are being raised. If you have any doubts, it is better to double-check the information and read official sources (the media often cover such problems) before making a translation.

Polls and tests

A common method of fraud is surveys and tests for which users are promised some reward for completing them. To receive it, you just need to answer the questionnaire and then pay a fee or deposit to receive a larger amount.

On the one hand, it may seem that the end justifies the means, and a small amount will not benefit the attackers, but in reality, tens and hundreds of people fall for such scams, and an amount of 200 rubles. for you can turn into 20,000 rubles. for a scammer.

The easiest way to attract attention to this type of fraud is on social networks, for example, in the format of an official advertisement or promotional post that was accidentally moderated. Also, such tests and surveys can be used to steal personal data (date of birth, phone number, email address), which is also easy to sell.

Thus, even if you do not lose money, you will receive tons of annoying advertising and annoying phone calls.

Help a friend

This type of fraud is a financial type. Attackers hack the profiles of individual people, study their writing style, and then write to their friends asking them to borrow a certain amount of money under various pretexts.

Here, a variety of manipulations are used - the death of a loved one and lack of money for a funeral, blocking a bank card, paying off a loan, urgent treatment, etc. Sometimes scammers present a photo of a card with the name of the profile owner, which creates a certain amount of trust.

A significant amount of time may pass before the administration blocks the profile, during which time the attackers manage to profit from the victim’s friends. The first thing to do in such cases is to contact a friend or acquaintance directly, clarify the information and do not be afraid to refuse people with whom you have not communicated for a long time.

Blackmail with explicit photos

If your profile has been hacked, the first thing the attacker will do is look at all the information about you, including the photos you send in private messages. And if he finds racy pictures there, he may resort to blackmail, threatening to distribute them among your friends, acquaintances, and even complete strangers.

For many, this is a frightening prospect, so victims very often agree to the conditions put forward and pay the blackmailer. Despite the serious threat of loss of reputation, you should not follow the lead of scammers - these actions fall under several articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Extortion” and Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of privacy.” In this case, it is advisable to immediately contact the police.

But there is another scenario - fake pornographic photographs. Using Photoshop, attackers can easily fake images with your alleged participation and also use them for blackmail.

It is relatively easy to recognize a fake, but even if a fake is involved, it can damage your reputation and self-esteem. But again, this is criminally punishable, so you shouldn’t encourage attackers, because they can again resort to blackmail.

Credits and loans

Fraudsters are actively profiting from people in difficult financial situations using thematic communities for users interested in credits and loans. It works as follows: through communities and public pages on financial topics, attackers find people who are offered to borrow a certain amount.

If a person agrees, he is asked to pay for a credit history check in the amount of about 2-2.5 thousand rubles. Next, you are informed that your story turned out to be unsatisfactory, and they offer to pay many times more to “correct” it. Oddly enough, this old trick still works, so such proposals should be treated with extreme skepticism.

Purchasing goods in communities

Online stores based on VKontakte are a common phenomenon, we see them all the time: designer items, wardrobe items, jewelry - you can find almost everything, and users are quite loyal to them.

Almost every such store requires an advance payment of 100% of the purchase amount, but not every one is fraudulent. Counterfeits are now quickly blocked, but attackers are coming up with new ways to bypass the blocking.

Often such communities lure users with attractive products at low prices. As a rule, they have no office, no contact information, no website. The whole scheme relies on attentive sellers, who, after receiving money from users, ban them and ignore them in every possible way.

Even if you are lucky enough to receive your purchase, most likely it will be of very poor quality or will not be at all what you ordered.

Malvertising

This is a fairly old method, but it is still in use, although it is no longer particularly popular. The bottom line is this: you receive a message from a user on your friends list who invites you to install some “useful” program or application, asking you to follow a link.

If you are interested in this information and you decide to follow the link, then you will see a site that completely duplicates VK, asking you to enter login data.

After this, your login and password fall into the hands of attackers, who will distribute similar links from your account, collecting the data of your friends. And, as you know, you can do anything with them - sell them, send spam, send messages asking to borrow money, etc.

Freebies and computer games

Fans of computer games know that some items from online games can be purchased for money or certain bonuses. Many people love cheat codes, which are not so easy to get - and this is also a big area for fraud.

This scheme implies that attackers send you a message informing you of the opportunity to receive in-game items or bonuses. To do this, you need to install a certain application or software on your computer, which in reality turns out to be a malicious program that allows you to capture your personal data. In this case, you should be afraid not only of leaking logins and passwords for the game and social networks, but also of infecting your computer.

Help with voting

This method is also aimed at stealing your personal data. You receive a message from a user on your friends list asking you to vote for him on some website. In fact, this site belongs to scammers, and the sender’s page has already been hacked. To cast your vote for a candidate, you need to log in through social networks (most often VK, Facebook or Tweetter).

If you do this, then your personal data will fall to attackers who will be able to send similar spam or take other illegal actions from your account.

Malicious links

Recently, this trick rarely works, since VKontakte blocks suspicious links, however, scammers are learning to bypass such prohibitions using new methods, so you should not lose your vigilance.

The bottom line is this: you receive a message from a user on your friends list who shares with you a link to some interesting material, website, etc. When you click on this link, you risk catching a virus that will block your desktop and require you to take some action, for example, send an expensive SMS message.

Third scheme

Lately, such a trick has not taken place in VK, but it is still worth talking about. The idea is simple: you receive a link from some friend with a message like “look what I found.” As you can guess, the main problem is the link. When you switch, you will most likely be greeted by a Trojan or ransomware virus that will block your desktop and require you to send an expensive SMS message.

Fortunately, such types of “divorce” are rare, and besides, if you follow the link, the VKontakte system will most likely block the transition. However, if you receive such a message, think several times about whether to click on the link.

How to identify a scammer on VK

Recognizing scammers on VKontakte can be difficult, but there are a number of proven methods. First of all, you must never let your guard down, especially when it comes to your money, personal data or documents. Since most of the frauds are committed in the sphere of trade, let's start with the rules for identifying scammers in online stores based on VK.

If you want to place an order in an online store based on VK, attackers may pose as group administrators - be sure to check whether this person is an employee of the store by looking at the “Contacts” section, or write to the group messages directly. Fraudsters can fake an administrator account, so for accuracy it is better to compare profiles by ID.
The first thing that should alert you is the person’s persistent desire to lure money out of you in every possible way - he can guarantee good conditions, put pressure on pity, and use confusing explanations. Often, fake stores use some kind of “guarantor” (third party, courier), who also needs to be paid.
To protect yourself, ask for the manager’s contact information (phone number) so you can contact him directly and official documents - if you have a scammer in front of you, he will, under any pretext, try to avoid any verification, much less contact with you.

Offering lower prices for quality goods is also a sign of fraud. The cost of a good item cannot be lower than the wholesale price, and online stores rarely sell goods at purchase prices, because they need at least some kind of profit.
Payment methods are another reason to be wary. Transfers to electronic wallets are rarely used by large online stores, but scammers, on the contrary, often resort to it. Individuals sometimes also use this payment method, so it is worth once again making sure that your actions are correct using other verification methods.
Customer reviews are not the most reliable method of checking integrity, since they can be easily purchased on specialized exchanges. However, any decent online store based on VK publishes photographs of customers with goods in a separate album. If all the reviews are extremely positive, this is also a reason to be wary - it often happens that the size did not suit someone, the color or quality of the fabric did not suit them - this is quite normal when a purchase is made online. And online stores that care about their reputation do not delete such reviews, but work with complaints, offering exchange or return options.

Financial fraud through hacking of user accounts and letters asking their friends to borrow money is another pressing problem. There are several ways to understand that there is an attacker in front of you:

First of all, remember: even if a scammer shows you a photo of the victim’s passport, a card with his name and other personal data, this does not mean that your friend is communicating with you. It is quite possible that these photographs were taken from personal correspondence or faked using Photoshop. So ask questions based on all the information you know about this person. If this is your friend, and you know what is going on in his life, call and personally ask if he is corresponding with you, and also ask questions to which you can predict the person’s reaction.
If they write to you with an offer to apply for a loan or a VK loan, this is the most obvious sign of fraud. Official organizations do not impose anything through personal messages; they use advertising and other methods of promotion. Checking your credit history is a plausible excuse, but in official companies this procedure is mandatory and carried out free of charge. It is extremely difficult to fake a credit history, and you are unlikely to be able to check the result, so it is better not to risk it.
If you donate to charity from time to time, carefully check the information about the people you give your money to. Funds have official websites with all the necessary documents regulating their activities. Also compare the information on the website and in the VK group - do the accounts match, the persons in whose interests the funds are being raised, etc. Individuals also often raise funds through VK groups. And they publicly publish their details - the cardholder's name must match the name of the person for whom the funds are being raised (or their immediate family in the case of children). The media often writes about such cases, so it will be useful to search for information about a specific case through search engines.

In all other cases of fraud that we discussed above, it is best to do the following:

First, ignore extraneous links from sites you don't know.
Secondly, check with your friend what exactly he wanted to show you. Some sites use URL shortening to disguise themselves as official resources, so before going to a third-party site, check it through services like CheckShortURL.
Thirdly, do not enter VK login information on suspicious third-party resources, even for voice purposes.
Fourth, ignore “tempting” offers to receive cheat codes and free game items - free cheese only comes in a mousetrap.

How to punish a VKontakte scammer?

If you still fall for a scammer, then write about it to technical support -

What to do if you are seriously scammed out of money?

Collect all the information about the scammer, page ID, print a copy of the correspondence, and the scammer’s phone number.
Collect all documents confirming the fact of the transaction, transfers, checks, etc.
Go to the police and write a statement, attaching all the materials on the case; pick up the receipt that your application has been accepted.

Before going to the police, it is advisable to find similar victims of the scammer: a collective complaint is processed much faster.

How to check a group or person for fraud

Fraudsters hack and create dozens of accounts, so it is sometimes difficult to determine who is in front of you - an ordinary person or an attacker. But there are ways to find out - technology is developing, people who have suffered from the activities of scammers willingly unite and share their experience. There are the following ways to check a person or group for fraud.

To identify an account that belongs to a scammer, go to his page and study all the information about him: his hobbies, photos, friends, groups, etc. Fraudsters do not leave detailed information about themselves; the profile will be filled out minimally, and photos will be added almost simultaneously.
Pay attention to the dates of the first posts of the group in which you plan to buy any product - if the group is new or comments and entries are periodically cleared, this is a reason to be wary. Check what guarantees the seller provides: return conditions, transaction rules, official documents, etc. If there are none, and the product cannot be returned or exchanged, it is better to avoid such a transaction.
The next way to check a page for fraud: copy the user ID, go to the search in the “News” section, select the “Search by photo” option, enter the suspect’s ID. Next, you will see all VK posts in which this profile appeared. Pay attention to whether anyone has accused this account of fraudulent activities or whether there is any dubious information.
Check to see if the account or group is on the Black List. Many sites and forums create databases of scammers, where they record links to their profiles, card numbers, wallets, details, phones, email, etc. For example, such a database is available on the website garantmarket.net (Black List), where new information about attackers and the types of fraud in which they are involved is regularly added.

How scammers hack VK

There are many ways to hack social networks. Sometimes attackers don’t even have to hack your account themselves - hacked profiles can be bought on specialized exchanges, and they are not at all expensive.

Every time you enter your VK login and password on an unknown site, you take a risk, because this data can be sold and used against you. But how does the hack itself happen?

The password is the most vulnerable point of any account. The bad news is that even the most complex password cannot guarantee 100% security for your profile. If the scammer somehow finds out your phone number, email address or login, then hacking your password will not be so difficult. It can be picked up using brute force programs or intercepted via Wi-Fi.

Many users make a serious mistake - using one password for several social networks. When hacking your email, an attacker can see the password that you use on other resources, and if it is similar, it will most likely be suitable for VK.

Also, the password can be intercepted using keyloggers (programs that record keystrokes), so it is not recommended to access your profile from third-party devices.

There are various viral browser extensions and applications that are aimed at collecting credentials. Programs that expand the capabilities of social networks and booking services can also be a threat, so if you use them, change your social network passwords regularly.

Most social networks, including VK, are linked to a phone number so that you can recover your password via SMS. But an SMS message can also be intercepted, which will allow you to obtain your password under the guise of a password recovery function.

If your account has already been hacked, then restoring access to it may not be so easy, since scammers often use special bots that interrupt all sessions except their own.

In this case, changing your password will not help; you need to get your account blocked so that the attacker’s access is also revoked.

Second scheme

Users love various polls. The attackers decided to take advantage of this.

In the vastness of the RuNet or in the same VK, you can follow a link to a third-party resource (often by accident), which exactly copies VK. Here you can see the voting. To vote, you need to log in again. It would seem, what’s wrong with this? It’s simple - this is not VKontakte, it’s a completely different site that only looks like VK, but in reality it is not. Accordingly, after entering the data, it will go straight into the hands of those who own this very resource, and the data from the account can be used for various purposes, including fraud.

What do scammers write?

Fraudsters can write you anything to get money from you or force you to take specific actions. In general, there are several schemes that attackers use.

Copying your style

More serious financial fraud requires a subtle approach - and attackers understand this, so after directly hacking your account, they study your correspondence in order to copy your writing style.

When luring money out of your friends, scammers refer to financial difficulties, press for pity, describe difficult situations (illness, death of a loved one, blocking a card, paying off a loan, etc.).

Every whim for your money

If you want to place an order in an online store based on VK and come across scammers, they will promise you the best conditions in exchange for your money. Moreover, attackers will try to get them as soon as possible, citing a limited number of goods, temporary restrictions on discounts, or the need to close the order right now. And they will respond reluctantly to requests for a contact phone number, any guarantees and documents, refusing under any plausible pretext.

Blackmail

Blackmailers are more straightforward and uncompromising. Sometimes they exclude the possibility of any dialogue, demanding the fulfillment of their conditions within a limited time frame. Ignoring such attacks on your privacy or demonstrating intent to report them to the police will usually only invite more threats, but it is better than giving in to blackmail.

Intrigue

If the scammer's goal is to get your account information, then he will do everything to force you to switch to some third-party resource. Most often, intrigue is used in this case: the attacker will try to arouse interest, perhaps telling a fascinating story that will intrigue you.

Types of blackmail on VKontakte

The popular social network is one of the favorite places of a wide variety of scammers and blackmailers. Today we will look at the three most popular ways to ruin the life of an ordinary person:

Hacking of a personal page . In this case, the attacker gains access to all your information - correspondence, contact list, videos and photographs, which he uses to achieve his goal. The situation is simple! You go to your profile and see a message from an unknown user who informs you that intimate photos have been found on your page. To prevent them from getting to your entire friends list, you must transfer a certain amount of money to your web wallet. If you try to block the ransomware, file a complaint with the admins, or delete your profile, the mailing will occur automatically. The victim of such extortionists is often an ex-girlfriend/boyfriend who at one time managed to star in a “home video” or be photographed naked. The blackmailer’s condition can be not only money, but also other options - breaking up with a new man, becoming a couple again, etc. By the way, a man most often plays the role of a swindler.
Online dating . The victim literally falls into the hands of the swindler! Having met a respectable man or a pretty lady online, you begin to have intimate conversations with the exchange of half-naked pictures of you. The payback for this may be blackmail in contact with the sending of correspondence or candid photos.
Child molestation charges . Mostly men fall into this trap. The following messages may appear on their vk pages: “You just sent me a photo of your genitals. I am 12 years old. I will file a complaint with the police about child molestation if you do not transfer 10 thousand rubles to my account.” Following this SMS, the man is also sent “material” evidence in the form of screenshots of correspondence.

How to block a scammer

In order to block a fraudster, you need to contact VKontakte technical support. Most often, users receive complaints about the dissemination of personal information, personal photographs without the owner’s permission, slander, advertising and sale of non-existent goods or services, and the dissemination of extremist materials.

Your complaint must be justified, so describe the situation in detail, provide all available evidence (screenshots of correspondence, details of scammers, etc.). However, collective complaints are a priority, so if you know users who have also suffered from the actions of violators, invite them to join forces.

The more complaints a scammer’s page or group receives, the greater the likelihood that he will be blocked. Based on the results of the inspection, the administration sends a notice to applicants within 30 days.

The procedure for filing a complaint about VK fraud is as follows:

Go to the "Help" section.
You will see several options for submitting an appeal; you must select the “None are suitable” option, click “Next” and “Ask a question”.
Describe in detail the situation that happened to you, provide a link to the user or group page and other information that will help you understand the situation.
Indicate the requirements for punishment - deletion of an account/group, blocking, etc.

However, it should be noted that even if your complaint was convincing and you attracted other victims of scammers, there is no absolute guarantee that the VK administration will block the attacker’s page. The reason is that many scammers work carefully and it is not so easy to identify the fact of illegal actions - in such cases an investigation is necessary, and this is beyond the jurisdiction of the VK.

Therefore, in addition to contacting the support service, it is recommended to also contact law enforcement agencies - the police or the prosecutor's office, and the sooner the better, because the account or group can be deleted.

Under what articles are VK scammers judged?

The article under which the criminal will be judged depends on how exactly his actions will be qualified. Responsibility for fraud in VK comes under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The following options are possible:

Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – “Fraud”. It applies to cases where the attacker obtained money through deception and abuse of trust. The minimum punishment under this article is a fine of up to 120 thousand rubles.
Article 159.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – “Fraud in the field of computer information.” This regulation is valid in the case when the user’s account was hacked, and the criminal, acting on behalf of the owner of the page, received money from other citizens. This article also touches on the theft of personal data (for example, photos of documents from personal correspondence).
Article 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – “Illegal access to computer information.” In some cases, hackers who have gained unlawful access to legally protected information are held accountable under this article.
Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – “Extortion” and Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – “Violation of privacy”. The effect of these articles extends to persons engaged in blackmail in VK, threatening to disclose any personal information.

As soon as a scammer on VK realizes that he has been exposed, he will try to cover all his tracks. And if a user encounters fraud on a social network, then they should not only complain about it to technical support, but also contact the police. The algorithm of actions in this case will be as follows:

collect all possible information from the scammer’s page - ID, details, links, etc.;
take screenshots of correspondence and print them;
prepare documents that confirm the transfer of money to the attacker’s account;
contact the police or prosecutor's office with a statement.

It will be helpful if the victim manages to find similar victims, collect their data and contact the police collectively.

How to protect VK from scammers

Cybersecurity is a trend that is not losing relevance. Every year more and more hacking technologies appear and, as a result, ways to steal your data from the network. Even if it seems to you that your account may not be of much interest to attackers, you are wrong. There are several rules that will help protect your VK profile from hacking and avoid other fraudulent activities.

Do not follow suspicious links to unknown resources, even if you receive them in messages from friends.
Do not enter your VKontakte username and password on third-party resources if you are not 100% sure of their reliability.
Use two-factor authentication not only for social networks, but also for email, especially if your accounts are linked to it.
Do not send photographs of documents and explicit images with your participation on VKontakte (and if you have sent them, delete them after the recipient reads them, so that if your account is hacked, attackers will not be able to blackmail you).
Hide your friends list to prevent scammers from spreading your personal information or questionable photos to people you know.
Most of us access social networks from mobile phones, so in addition to two-factor authentication, you need to put a PIN code on your SIM card. If your phone is stolen, this will buy you time and prevent attackers from quickly changing the password for your account.
If one of your friends (even your closest ones) asks you to transfer money, call this person and clarify whether the request really comes from him. You can try writing in other secure messengers, but if the phone was stolen, you also risk becoming a victim of fraud.

Do not send money to unknown people's cards or e-wallets. If you make a purchase from an online store based on VK, carefully check its reputation, reviews, look at the guarantees, go to the website, contact the manager by phone if you have any suspicions.

Do not access VK through unsecured networks in public places - your password can be intercepted by attackers. It is better to use mobile Internet.

Set a complex password that is difficult to crack using brute force programs, and change it periodically.

Is it possible to return money from scammers in VK

It is difficult, but possible, to return money received from you fraudulently by VK, but you need to respond immediately. It should also be remembered that VKontakte is a social network; data on money transfers is recorded only in correspondence format and cannot be tracked.

The administration cannot help you get your money back without the intervention of law enforcement agencies, so if you become a victim of criminals, you must immediately contact the police, this is the only way you will have a chance to get your funds back.

Very often, even the police cannot collect enough information to find the fraudster. This is why it is so important to try to involve other victims in the case - the more information law enforcement agencies have, the higher the likelihood that the criminal will be found.

You can return the money that you carelessly transferred to scammers through a bank, but to do this you must report the illegal transaction no later than the next day. In this case, you should call the bank, report the incident and block the card.

Next, you need to write an application to the bank to challenge the operation, provide an account statement, and also contact law enforcement agencies. As a rule, the bank considers statements about illegal transactions within 30 days, and if you did not disclose the confidential data of your card (PIN code, login and password from online banking, etc.), then you have a real chance to return the money .

What to do with scammers who sell counterfeits, forgeries, fakes, and replicas of VKontakte?

Advertising of counterfeit goods, in particular, counterfeit clothing and shoes, is common on VK. There are known advertisements for counterfeit shoes from Ecco, Salomon, Columbia, Timberland (usually the ad indicates a large discount, for example, 70%). Advertising links lead to sites like salomon-discount.com, about which there are many reviews of victims on the Internet. Such sites often contain the details of the organizations TorgService LLC, Online Retail LLC (Cheboksary), Millhouse LLC (Moscow).

The advertising rules do NOT prohibit sellers from posting such advertising:

The VK position on this matter is as follows:

Unfortunately, we do not regulate the activities of such groups. Likewise, we do not check the products in the stores that we stock. We provide a platform, but do not take on the functions of the police or Rospotrebnadzor.

If you were deceived in this way and sent a fake, you will have to solve the problem through law enforcement agencies, as described above.