In the Pavlodar region, police officers prevented an attempt to defraud a pensioner of a large sum of money following a series of phone calls from unknown individuals. The woman had already approached banks to withdraw funds and take out a loan, but staff at one of the branches suspected possible criminal coercion and reported it to the police.
HOW THE UNKNOWN INDIVIDUALS GAINED ACCESS TO THE DATA
According to the portal Polisia.kz, initially, unknown individuals called the pensioner, posing as employees of an intercom service. They informed her of an allegedly planned equipment replacement and asked her to dictate an SMS code for 'registration'.
The woman believed the caller and provided the received code.
Some time later, unknown individuals began calling her again. They claimed that after providing the code, there had allegedly been an unauthorised access to her data.
WHY THE WOMAN WAS CONVINCED TO WITHDRAW MONEY FROM HER ACCOUNTS
During subsequent calls, the unknown individuals posed as law enforcement officers and employees of the Agency for Financial Monitoring (AFM). They convinced the pensioner that, in order to 'find the criminals', she needed to urgently withdraw money from her bank accounts and wait for further instructions.
The woman followed these recommendations and approached two second-tier banks in the city to withdraw funds and take out a loan.
HOW THE LOSS OF MONEY WAS PREVENTED
At the second bank branch, employees noticed signs of possible criminal coercion and promptly reported this to the police.
According to the head of the cybercrime prevention department of the Pavlodar region police department, Askhat Abetzhanov, thanks to the actions of the bank employees and the police, the loss of money was prevented.
"Following the instructions of the criminals, the woman approached two second-tier bank branches in the city to withdraw cash and take out a loan. When she approached the second bank, the employees suspected signs of fraud and immediately reported it to the police. Thanks to the vigilance of law enforcement officers and bank employees, the fraud was prevented and the pensioner did not lose 5 million tenge," reported Askhat Abetzhanov.
The police reminded that employees of government agencies and banks never ask for SMS codes, to withdraw money from accounts, or to transfer funds to third parties.
Law enforcement authorities urge citizens to remain vigilant and not to disclose personal data to strangers over the phone.