OREANDA-NEWS. Phone scammers have begun using a new scheme to extort money and personal data from Russians, the Bank of Russia reports.

Swindlers in a telephone conversation introduce themselves as officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other law enforcement agencies. The cybercriminals inform the clients of the banks that a criminal case has been initiated against them at the request of the Bank of Russia.

Further, the fraudsters try to get personal data, payment card numbers, information about transactions performed with a bank card from customers of credit institutions in order to use the information received to steal money from citizens' accounts.

The Central Bank emphasizes that it does not submit applications to law enforcement agencies without the consent of clients of credit institutions.

The department explained that when a criminal case is initiated, a subpoena is sent to the postal address at his place of residence to summon the police department to the investigator or interrogator.

You can check whether the person with the surname mentioned during the conversation is serving in the police by calling the duty department of the indicated unit.

If in a telephone conversation a stranger refers to a criminal process initiated by the Bank of Russia, then this person is an attacker, the Central Bank concludes, and calls on citizens to be vigilant and not let themselves be deceived.