We all know that the internet is full of traps and cheating methods. Now, more and more groups are appearing on the Telegram network where you are added and promised financial rewards in exchange for simple tasks. Silviu Stahie, cyber security expert at Bitdefender, explained what is actually behind these schemes.
Suspicious groups and messages
,,Hello everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day today! Let me introduce you to this group and the benefits you can get from it” – this is what the first messages sound like once you are added to the ghost groups on Telegram, by users you don’t have in your contact list. Next comes the part where you are presented with the so-called benefits, following simple tasks. In this case, you are invited to follow certain WhatsApp channels, and in return you are promised amounts between 200 and 1000 lei daily.
However, the first “reward” is smaller, 20 lei.
There are always accounts that ask questions about how things work, and in the end they say that everything went well and they got the money. A kind of cybernetic Black and White. These accounts are fake, and behind them are not real people, but bots, experts say.
How things work
Schemes of this type are well established, and money may even be offered initially to trap users. Only then people would be attracted to invest, so that incomes would increase. Silviu Stahie, cyber security expert at Bitdefender explains how things usually work:
“A year or two ago, there was a similar scheme where you were rewarded if you gave reviews on Google Maps to some hotels, guesthouses, etc. It is very likely that the money that is initially promised (10-20 lei) is real. This was also the case in the scheme two years ago. You received that money fixed to get caught. But it is a pyramid scheme. Once the victim receives the money they trust that it is the real thing. That’s why the discussion is moved elsewhere, on WhatsApp. There it will be contacted by real people, not Telegram bots, and victims will be convinced to invest to move to the next level of rewards. I say: <
You don’t see the money back, you are just told that you have received a reward. And at some point, when you want to take the money out of there, you are removed from the groups, they no longer respond to your messages”.
How does our data get into the hands of those who initiate the groups? Also from the internet, says Silviu Stahie.
“Criminals collect the data (for example, phone numbers) from various security holes that are available online and simply add a lot of phone numbers, hoping that, just like in a psishing email (no – electronic fraud), out of 1,000 – 2,000 numbers at least one or two people will fall into the trap”.
Although the system is often the same (so-called rewards for likes or follows), the traps can be simpler or more complex.
“Now it depends a lot on the respective criminals what kind of traps they have. Some even go so far as to build very well designed sites with a very nice interface, where you are shown the money you have earned. It depends a lot on the offender. Some schemes are very complex, others very simple, in which you are simply tricked into investing some money, which you later lose.” says the cybersecurity expert.
Silviu Stahie, cyber security expert
“It works”
On the Internet, if something seems too good or too simple to be true, chances are it isn’t.
“The effort of a few minutes to win large sums should put you on your guard. But the fact that these messages exist and that these attempts exist tells us only one thing, and that is that they work.
The moment they offer you such important gains, then you must think: <
Most of the time, once enough victims are collected, these accounts are closed. But other groups appear and things start over. In addition to fraud, there are other risks on the application, the specialist draws attention:
“Telegram has a peculiarity: it has a number of functions that allow it to be integrated with other services. And combine that with the fact that it’s the Wild West, it’s very unregulated, its infrastructure used in a lot of attacks. When you put all that together, it’s very hard to trust. Bots are very, very widespread, helped by artificial intelligence to speak Romanian correctly” .
How can we protect ourselves?
Cyber security solutions are useful and have developed a lot in recent years, says the expert.
,,We should have more and more trust in security sources, because they are not there just to protect us when we download dangerous files. They will also stop us when we try to interact with sites. For example, most of the time these crimes redirect you to various sites, which will be blocked by security solutions. You will be notified that there is a problem.
Likewise, you will be notified when you receive these messages. Our security solutions, for example, have implemented this feature for Telegram, Discord, for several applications. And they will notify you when you receive a suspicious message.
Also, there are a lot of apps, some free, that allow you to take a picture of that message, upload it to the service in question, and ask if it’s real or a hoax, if you’re about to become a victim.”
Caution and healthy mistrust are also elements that can protect us from losing our money and data.
“Unfortunately, we have reached an era of the Internet from which we cannot escape. We will always have to be suspicious, no matter where the messages come from, we will have to start treating them with suspicion. Big companies are already doing this. They have a policy called “Zero trust”, which they have been applying for many years. And I think it should also reach consumers. If we get a call where someone says it’s from a bank, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s from the bank. As we get used to these things, I’m sure the attacks will decrease. Because once they don’t work, they’ll go away.” emphasizes Silviu Stahie.
