According to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, operatives discovered a database that contains information about the manufacture and sale of about three thousand fake insurance policies. Seven suspects have been detained.
According to the official representative of the department, Irina Volk, the scammers worked in one of the messengers. Through spam mailing, they presented themselves as agents of well-known companies and offered to issue an OSAGO insurance policy at a price 15-20% below the market price.
If the citizens agreed to the deal, the scammers asked for their passport details, as well as information about cars and driver’s licenses. Then the victims were asked to follow the link sent to the chat to the supposedly official website of the insurance company. In fact, customers were sent to a phishing site where car owners downloaded malicious software. After obtaining the necessary data, the attackers carried out the so-called “drawing” of insurance policies, which were then sent to customers.
According to the investigation, so that the deceived citizens would not suspect anything, the accomplices recommended that they indicate the details of the received document in the search line of the official website of the insurance company. However, when a search request was received, malicious software was triggered and redirected to the scam site. A positive response was moderated automatically and received by the client bypassing the search service of a legal Internet resource.
To date, “11 facts of illegal activities of malefactors against residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Altai and Krasnodar Territories have been documented,” the press service of the police noted. Investigators of the St. Petersburg Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened a criminal case against them under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud). But during searches in the homes and offices of the suspects, investigators discovered a database containing information about the manufacture and sale of about three thousand fake insurance policies.
Seven alleged swindlers were detained. “Among them are two alleged organizers of illegal activities, a developer of malicious software code, responsible for preparing and filling out false insurance forms, and three managers who communicated with clients in messenger chats and cashed out money,” said Irina Volk.
“In relation to the organizer, who made an attempt to escape from law enforcement officers, a measure of restraint in the form of house arrest was chosen. With regard to the rest of the defendants – a ban on certain actions. The preliminary investigation continues,” Irina Volk clarified.