Fraudsters began stealing passport data of Russians under the guise of public utilities

The attackers began using fake announcements about the emergency services of management companies (CC) to gain access to the personal information of residents of apartment buildings. This was announced on November 15 by Evgeny Masharov, Deputy Chairman of the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for public control and handling of citizens' appeals.

According to him, fraudsters place flyers with fake phone numbers of public utilities in the entrances and rely on appeals from citizens who are faced with household problems, including leaking pipes, insufficient water pressure or electrical wiring problems.

During a telephone conversation, the false traffic controller accepts the application, after which, under the pretext of identity verification, he asks the interlocutor to pass confirmation through the Gosuslugi portal and dictate the received code. Having received the necessary information, the scammers stop communicating, and the stolen information can later be used for further illegal actions.

In some cases, criminals act differently: instead of the confirmation code, they request the passport data of the owner and the cadastral number of the apartment. The information collected then becomes the basis for a more complex scheme involving accomplices posing as police officers, Rosreestr, Rosimushchestvo and other government agencies.

"They may require the apartment owner to urgently transfer money to an allegedly special account in order to prevent the sale of housing," Masharov warned in an interview with TASS.

As the expert explained, before this, the attackers create a fictitious advertisement for the sale of real estate, and then convince the owner that his home is allegedly put up for auction. To avoid deception, Masharov recommended that in the event of a utility accident, contact the management company directly.

The verified phone number can be found in the payment receipt or on the official website of the Management Company. Its representatives should clarify the contacts of the organization responsible for troubleshooting.

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On the same day, the Russian Interior Ministry reminded its compatriots that fraudsters had learned how to use artificial intelligence technologies to fake the speech and video images of their friends. Criminals also began using the generated digital avatar of their potential victim to bypass biometric authentication.