Service thief: scammers began to massively deceive service station customers
Over the past few months, a series of crimes against car service customers has been recorded in Moscow, a law enforcement source told Izvestia and the victims confirmed. Attackers gain access to service station databases with customer information in various ways. Then they call the workshops on their behalf, asking for information about the status of repairs and their cost. And at the last stage, they contact the car owners on behalf of the service and ask them to pay for the allegedly rendered services. The damage amounts sometimes exceed half a million rubles, and criminal cases have been initiated. How the scheme works and whether it is possible to protect yourself from it is in the Izvestia material.
How scammers deceive car owners
Residents of Moscow have sent dozens of statements to the police in the past few months complaining that they have suffered from fraudsters who act on behalf of car service stations, a law enforcement source told Izvestia.
The scheme by which the attackers work is about the same every time. A person rents a car to a car repair shop, fraudsters find out about this fact, thanks to the "merged" databases of service stations. Next, they call the services on behalf of customers, clarify information about the car and the cost of repairs, after which they call the customers themselves on behalf of the service station and ask them to transfer money for the alleged repairs or purchased car parts.
One of the car service stations recorded the fraudster's call and provided it to Izvestia for review. On the recording, an unknown person asks an employee of the workshop to orient him "about the car", its readiness, the work carried out and the cost of repairs. At the same time, the caller stubbornly does not want to give his name, answers the question about the make of the car "foreign car", and after asking to give the name of the owner stops communicating.
The situation affected completely different Moscow car repair shops. According to some statements of the victims, criminal cases have been initiated.
One of the victims, Sergey Fetisov, told Izvestia that on May 5 he took his Kia to a car repair shop. The car needed body repairs: replacing a couple of parts and polishing the body. The repaired car was supposed to be returned in a week.
— I was waiting for a call from the master, and in the morning they called me and said that the car was ready, — Sergey described the situation. — They asked to pick it up early, allegedly because of the influx of customers, and to make the payment "in a moment" in order to close the order immediately. They named the exact repair amount — 99 thousand rubles, it was previously announced to me in the service, as well as all the parameters of the car, so I had no doubts.
Sergey transferred the money to a certain Stanislav by phone number, and sent the check to a chat with the service. But there the man was informed that the car was still under repair, and payment at the salon was made only after the car was delivered to the customer.
Sergey contacted the police, where a criminal case was opened.
What else did the victims say?
There are a lot of such cases in the capital now, a source told Izvestia.
For example, at the end of April, a fraudster disguised as a car service courier stole winter tires with discs worth 510 thousand rubles from the CEO of one of the capital's commercial firms. The woman instructed her driver to put summer tires on the Audi A8, and to store the winter tires in one of the child care centers. After a while, an "employee" of such a center called the driver and offered to deliver the rubber to the service warehouse with the help of a courier. And two weeks later, it suddenly became clear that the wheels had not been received by the service.
In response to the claims, the salon administrator reported that the service had stolen a database of customers who were now making massive payments for repair services to fake accounts.
In April, Artyom Ch. contacted the police. He said that fraudsters disguised as car service employees stole 30 thousand rubles from him. The attackers contacted him after the man delivered his car to the service station. A couple of days later, the scammers called and reported that the car had malfunctions and offered to purchase parts for repair.
The man transferred the money to the specified number, and in the evening of the same day, the real employees of the car service reported that they had just begun to inspect the car and had not performed any repair work. A criminal case on fraud has been opened.
In March of this year, another Muscovite, Denis G., left his Opel Antara at a service station. After a while, the "staff" of the service called him and informed him that several parts needed to be replaced in the car — the front brake discs, oil seals, belt, timing chain, sprockets, piston rings and valve — for a total of 71 thousand rubles. The man transferred the money to the specified number. A criminal case has been opened.
In April, Yuri K. transferred 80 thousand rubles to fraudsters under the pretext of repairing a Honda Civic car, which he left at a service station. And a criminal case has been opened on this fact.
How databases leak
The difference between this fraud scheme and many others is that the attackers act with precision, neural network architect Dmitry Mil told Izvestia. This is no longer a "cold" call from the "bank security service", but a "warm" call to an interested client.
"Such a call inspires maximum trust, and then it's a matter of technique," the expert said. — It is difficult to impose a fraudulent scheme or transfer on a client who is not looking for a service. Therefore, the primary task of scammers is to get up—to-date information about the victims.
According to him, information about car service customers, like any other institution, can leak to fraudsters in several ways. The first is that the company's server may be infected with malicious software. This will allow you to download customer information directly from the sales manager's computer in real time.
— If a car service stores a database on a cloud service, and fraudsters gain access to it, they immediately see which of the customers has recently contacted the service station, — the specialist explained. — And they can sort the database in such a way that they select only expensive repairs and work on them in a targeted manner.
The second way is that unscrupulous car service employees can merge the customer base into the darknet or into closed Telegram channels for a fee. Or provide the fraudster with access to the database online.
It is not worth paying in advance for the services of a service station
Service stations not only in Moscow, but also in the regions are facing attempts at telephone fraud, Dmitry Samoilov, director of partner support for the service station network Fit Service, confirmed to Izvestia. For example, a similar case was recently recorded at a station in Belgorod.
"We regularly remind our employees, the contact center operators, of the existence of such a threat, and we analyze real cases in detail," the expert said. — Therefore, none of our employees and clients got into a situation where scammers achieved their goals.
During the call, the scammers simulate poor communication and slurred speech of the "client". The receptionist tries to hear the speaker's questions, and the client feigns annoyance at the employee's "incomprehensibility."
— We recommend that car owners be vigilant, — Dmitry Samoilov added. — In case of any suspicious call allegedly from the station, just hang up and call back to the station yourself. Do not make any money transfers before accepting the repaired car. Certified reputable service stations take payment for their work only after the fact.
Why have scammers become more active?
According to Dmitry Samoilov, the increase in fraud attempts in Moscow is due to the high cost of car repairs in the region. The average receipt for these services has increased by about 25-30% over the year. In addition, it also affects the fact that there are more expensive cars in Moscow (they also cost more to repair), and a very fast pace of life: people are in a hurry to get their cars out of repair faster. That's what scammers play on.
The attackers are indeed using the stolen personal data of car service customers to gain access to information about the make of the car, the nature of repairs and the timing of work, confirmed Alexey Ivanov, the owner of the Alliance Trucks commercial vehicle dealership network.
— Car owners should remember that most car service stations accept payment only after completion of work and only on site, during a personal visit of the client, — he reminded. — This is a standard practice, and it also serves as a protection against fraud.
With any call asking you to transfer money, you should not transfer funds to private cards or through links received in messengers.
If a person has already got into such a situation and transferred money, it is necessary to immediately contact the bank with a request to suspend the transfer and file a police report, Alexey Ivanov added. It is also worth warning the car service itself so that they strengthen the protection of customers' personal data and do not disclose information to third parties upon a call.
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