A fraud scheme based on trust in acquaintances is gaining momentum in Armenia. According to IDBank, attackers hack accounts or create exact copies of them, and then send messages asking for an urgent money transfer. In recent years, the damage from such actions has reached tens of millions of drams.
The scenario is based on the element of surprise: a "friend" or "relative" reports an allegedly critical situation — an accident, illness, or account blocking. At the same time, fraudsters try to prevent verification of information: they refuse calls, refer to being busy, or ask to maintain "confidentiality". Often, they ask to transfer money not to a personal account, but to the details of "third parties", which complicates the return of funds.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that such transfers are considered voluntary: if the operation is confirmed by the account holder, it is almost impossible to return the money. IDBank advises not to succumb to urgency, to check information through other communication channels, to carefully study profiles, and to block the sender at the slightest suspicion.