From February 24 to March 3, 37 cybercrimes were registered in the Vitebsk region.
The most popular crimes last week included: property theft through modification of computer information (Article 212 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus); fraud (Article 209 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus); extortion (Article 208 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus); illegal circulation of payment instruments (Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus); knowingly false report of an incident (Article 340 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus).
Scammers' services involved: acting as sellers on marketplaces on the "Instagram" platform, scammers sold fish and seafood; on the AV.BY website, they sold cars and requested advance payment; acting as MTS operators, they offered to extend tariff plan agreements, follow a link, and install an application; acting as law enforcement agencies, specifically employees of the Financial Investigations Department, scammers informed individuals that they "need to declare funds, otherwise a search will be conducted and all undeclared money will be seized."
Tools used in crimes included: remote access software for victims' mobile devices; malicious software; phishing links.
Be cautious when communicating online. Do not click on links sent by unknown sources. Verify information about sellers and offers. Do not transfer funds before receiving goods. Stay vigilant!