The Interior Ministry warned about a "free VPN" infecting a gadget with viruses
The scammers began distributing a banking Trojan and a malware downloader under the guise of free VPN services. This was announced on May 26 by the Department for the organization of the fight against the illegal use of information and communication technologies (UBK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
"Another "free VPN" has been discovered, instead of which malicious software is installed on the user's device. A banking Trojan and a loader of additional malware are being distributed under the guise of a VPN service," the report says.
After installation, such a program gets access to SMS messages, push notifications, and confidential banking application data. In addition, the Trojan is able to download other malicious modules to the smartphone in the background without the knowledge of the owner.
As noted in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, free services from third-party sources are regularly used by criminals as a channel for mass infection of digital devices. The department stressed that such programs allow attackers to fully control the victim's banking activity.
As a precautionary measure, the cyber police recommends installing applications exclusively from official stores. At the same time, the agency's specialists clarified that even the use of proven sites does not guarantee one hundred percent user safety.
On May 25, the UBK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that a child's increased interest in his parents' gadgets, payment cards, or requests to give a smartphone for a while may be signs that a minor is under the influence of fraudsters. The infowire was a recent incident when intruders contacted a teenager in the gaming community and claimed to have won a cash prize. Under the pretext of crediting the "winnings", the scammers convinced the child to use the parents' banking applications.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
