How not to fall victim to scammers on Telegram and Instagram and protect your money

Ukrainians should live in conditions of "zero trust" towards messages and calls from strangers, as it is through social engineering that fraudsters most often gain access to accounts, personal data, and money. This was stated by lawyer and private detective Andriy Halych in a conversation with blogger Eva Korshyk, as reported by UNN.

According to the lawyer, the basic rule of digital security today is to treat every call from an unknown number, as well as every message on Telegram or Instagram, as potential fraud until the interlocutor proves otherwise.

There is a myth around Telegram as the "most dangerous" messenger, but from a technical point of view, such a statement is not unambiguous. At the same time, risks arise due to the fact that data can be uploaded to another device after connecting an account, and this is what attackers use.

The lawyer explained: one of the most common schemes begins with a message like "vote for my friend" or "vote for my daughter." The person is sent an unknown link, after clicking on which they enter their phone number and password. As a result, fraudsters gain access to the account on their device and effectively bypass security mechanisms, including two-factor authentication.

For some time, the victim may not even suspect that outsiders already have access to their correspondence and personal data. During this period, attackers study the person's circle of contacts, download videos and voice messages, and then can use these materials for new attacks, including with the help of neural networks.

After that, fraudsters usually act according to two scenarios. In the first case, they massively send messages asking to follow a link and "vote." In the second, they start asking acquaintances for money on loan on behalf of the account owner.

Andriy Halych separately drew attention to the issue of refunds. He emphasized that everything depends on what assets are in question. If it's fiat money, one refund mechanism applies. If it's cryptocurrency, another.

In cases where fraudsters act unprofessionally, cryptocurrency can actually be tracked, blocked, arrested, and returned. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been returned in this way.

At the same time, he warned: returning funds through specialized legal services requires additional costs. First, the victim must pay for the hourly work of specialists, and then the contract may provide for a so-called "success fee" - from 10% to 50% of the returned amount.

Recently, law enforcement officers exposed an organized group of fraudsters who seized cryptocurrency from Ukrainian and foreign citizens through malicious web resources and caused millions of hryvnias in damages.

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