How Russians deal with scammers: It only takes a couple of sharp remarks to put them in their place.

“A huge thank you to everyone who informs us about scammers!” writes Svetlana Vyacheslavovna from Moscow, who then shares that thanks to such information, she has learned to recognize phone fraudsters instantly.

“Just a moment ago, they called from a number... (we cannot disclose the numbers, - ed), posing as a mobile operator and informed me that my contract for using the number was about to expire and that if I didn’t provide my passport details, they would disconnect my phone. I replied: ‘Go ahead and disconnect it; your service is terribly expensive and the quality is awful. I’ll get a number from another operator.’

I congratulated them on the holidays and wished them to quickly change their residence to less remote places. I want to emphasize: during the conversation, you need to interrupt them and take the initiative in the discussion, showing that their information is irrelevant to you. ...Oh, and they also called from the Central District Prosecutor's Office of Moscow. As you can imagine, such a thing doesn’t exist at all.

...The other day, a lady called, supposedly from the labor and social protection department, saying they had found my unaccounted work experience and then hung up immediately. I recently retired and submitted documents to the Pension Fund in Moscow. So, I called her back. The connection was probably intentionally very poor. But then I clearly heard that I had an appointment scheduled for Wednesday. To confirm my place in line, I needed to provide numbers from an SMS that would be sent to my number shortly. ...It became clear that it's a scammer calling.”

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Our reader from Tolyatti, Andrei Kahanov, has compiled a rich collection of his encounters with phone fraudsters and wished to share it with us. Andrei Evgenyevich hopes (as do we) that other readers, armed with his experience, will not fall victim to phone scammers.

“It’s a pity for ordinary people, usually elderly, not wealthy, and, by their upbringing, trusting, even naive individuals,” writes Andrei Evgenyevich, presenting his collection. “...I forgot which year the fraudulent calls started; many have not stuck in my memory, but some have. So:

1. Call:

- Kahanov Andrei Evgenyevich?

- Yes.

- Have you just transferred money to someone from your bank card?

- Yes.

Of course, I haven’t transferred money to anyone. There was a long silence on the line, then the question:

- Why?

- I transfer my money to whoever I want.

- How much?

- Just a bit, one and a half million.

They hung up on the other end.

2. Call:

- Kahanov Andrei Evgenyevich?

- Yes.

- You are receiving a call from the bank’s technical support (introducing themselves with full name).

- And what?

- You haven’t updated the program in your bank’s personal account, why?

- You’re technical support, you should update it.

- No, I will send you a code now, you need to tell it to me.

- I don’t want to.

- Then the bank will block your card.

- Block it.

Then came boring threats of blocking all my accounts, and I interrupted the call.

Russians are increasingly resisting phone scammers.

Photo: Shutterstock.

3. Call:

- ...You are being contacted by a health insurance company; your mandatory health insurance policy has expired. ...I will send you a code now, please tell it to me, and we will extend your policy.

After the words “I will send you a code now,” everything becomes clear; then I make jokes about not visiting clinics, explaining:

- “If I get sick, I won’t go to the doctors. I’ll turn to my friends…”.

The interlocutor is not familiar with Smelyakov’s poetry and tries to scare me with expensive paid medical services without insurance; I hang up.

4. Call:

- ...You are being contacted by a mobile service provider; your service agreement is about to expire, and you need to renew it. This can be done remotely.

- So renew it, what’s the problem?

- I will send you a code, you tell it to me, and the agreement will be automatically extended.

- What if I don’t tell you?

- We will block your number.

- Block it.

- Why, for what?

- Your service is annoying; sometimes they call on weekends, sometimes a drunk friend calls at midnight, or my wife distracts me while fishing...

- Then we will block your number starting tomorrow!

- Block it!

Conversation ends.

5. Call:

- ...You are being contacted by a senior lieutenant from the criminal investigation department (full name) of the Moscow Internal Affairs Directorate.

- Why a senior lieutenant, why not a colonel, a lieutenant colonel, or at least a major?

- Because I am conducting criminal case on the facts of you transferring money for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

- If you are conducting my case, then you know who I am; therefore, you should introduce yourself according to regulations.

- How is that?

- Like this: Comrade Lieutenant General, allow me to introduce myself; Senior Lieutenant so-and-so is presenting himself due to the initiation of a criminal case against you...

No continuation of the conversation followed.

Such calls came in – one, two a week. Boring, monotonous, gray, and talentless, in general no artistry, not to mention virtuosity. ...But three calls stood out from the stereotype. Hardly my first encounter with phone fraudsters happened to me; it was my wife. I left for a conference in a neighboring city, as usual, after the event, there is a friendly dinner, called in the program a "discussion," or simply put, a party. I returned to the hotel well past midnight, barely fell asleep – the phone rang.

6. Call:

- Andrei, what’s wrong with you, where are you? (my wife calls)

- Nadya, what happened? I just fell asleep; I feel like yesterday’s state; it’s three in the morning.

- I just received a call from someone who introduced themselves as a traffic police officer and said you were in an accident causing severe bodily harm to another participant in the accident, but the documents have not been drawn up yet, and the issue can be resolved.

- Nadya, look out the window; the car is parked in the yard; I knew where I was going and in what state I would be; the driver brought me here in a service car…

What’s remarkable about this scam? The scammers apparently knew I wouldn’t be home, and the call was made at a time when a person could be caught in a semi-asleep state.

7. Call:

- ...You are being contacted by a delivery service (the name is pronounced indistinctly). A correspondence has arrived in your name; how would you like it delivered?

I was indeed expecting correspondence from the magazine's editorial office with a copy of the issue containing my article. I start to think slowly (slowly, because at that moment I am holding a screwdriver in one hand and a launch capacitor in the other, trying to fit it into its place, pressing the phone to my ear with my shoulder). Without further ado, I respond:

- Deliver it however you like, whether by diplomatic courier or by horseback messenger.

- No, Andrei Evgenyevich, I will send you a code now, and you will tell it to me so I can verify that you are you!