YEREVAN, September 30. /ARKA/. The number of bank card frauds has sharply increased in Armenia, the Office of Prosecutor General said, urging citizens not to provide information about their bank cards to other persons.
According to prosecutors, cases of theft using ads for the sale of goods at online shopping sites have become very frequent. The criminals use WhatsApp or other uncontrolled means to communicate with sellers of various goods on online marketplaces (e.g. List.am) and under the pretext of making an electronic payment for the purchase of advertised goods, demand and receive from the sellers their bank card details, and then, using this data, steal the money.
A study revealed that criminals use two types of fraud. In one case, unknown persons contact the advertiser via WhatsApp application registered to foreign or local phone numbers and ask for seller’s bank card details to purchase the goods and transfer money. The latter provide the “buyer” with their bank card details, including codes, after which the criminals fraudulently withdraw money from the buyer’s bank card.
In other cases, under the pretext of buying goods, the criminals contact the advertiser in the same way and express a desire to buy the product. However, under the pretext that they live in another locality, they offer to sign an electronic contract through Haypost postal operator, according to which the latter pays a certain amount and in return the courier delivers the goods to the locality.
Then criminals send out so-called “trap” links, where people register their bank details and codes and then find out that the link is fake. And the criminal, using computer technology, by downloading the bank data received through the fake link, is able to transfer money from the ATM card to other accounts.
In the first half of 2022, 145 cases of fraud with bank cards were reported and probes into 134 cases were completed by prosecutors. -0-
