What to do if you are blackmailed on VKontakte with photographs and correspondence?

Hacking of personal pages on social networks has become a fairly common occurrence recently. Unfortunately, many are not used to paying attention to their cybersecurity, believing that they have absolutely nothing to fear. But in reality, no one is safe from hacking. That’s why it’s so important to know the schemes that scammers use. Just the other day on Twitter, a user with the nickname “Pact of Creation” described in detail the actions of scammers when hacking a VKontakte page using his own sad example.

Second scheme

Users love various polls. The attackers decided to take advantage of this.

In the vastness of the RuNet or in the same VK, you can follow a link to a third-party resource (often by accident), which exactly copies VK. Here you can see the voting. To vote, you need to log in again. It would seem, what’s wrong with this? It’s simple - this is not VKontakte, it’s a completely different site that only looks like VK, but in reality it is not. Accordingly, after entering the data, it will go straight into the hands of those who own this very resource, and the data from the account can be used for various purposes, including fraud.

Internet fraud. Concept and basic forms

Any person can be prosecuted and punished if his actions show signs of criminally unlawful acts. The elements of the crime under articles of fraud consist of the presence of deception and the intention to take possession of other people's funds. Even if you did not know and became a participant in the crime, ignorance of the law does not exempt you from responsibility.

If you suspect that you have become a victim of fraud, immediately call your bank and block your card. After this, report the scammers - even if no questionable transactions have yet occurred, and you simply provided your card number to an unknown person. It's better to be paranoid than to have no money.

Different banks respond differently to fraud issues. In some places you can write in an online chat or call a call center, in others you have to go to the bank and write an application.

Reporting online scammers and false transactions should be filed as soon as possible—ideally right away. Maximum - within 24 hours. If you are late, the bank may refuse to conduct an investigation.

It is possible to return stolen money. According to the law “On the National Payment System”, the bank must return the money if the client reports online fraudsters within 24 hours. After the request, the bank will block the account and begin checking. According to the law, he has 30 days to investigate.

Although the situation looks optimistic, actually getting a decent amount of money back is almost impossible. If fraudsters hacked an online bank or another banking system—that is, the problem was on the bank’s side—then the money will most likely be returned. But if you yourself told the criminals your card number, PIN code or password via SMS, then the bank will shift all the blame onto you and may not return anything.

Sometimes a bank can accommodate a regular customer halfway and return a small amount of money, even if he himself provided the data to the scammers. But you shouldn’t count on this all the time.

Fraud – actions aimed at appropriating someone else’s property through deception or misrepresentation. The external manifestation of such crimes is extremely diverse, but there are still a number of common qualifying criteria:

• gratuitous in nature, i.e. the injured party is not compensated in any way for the loss of property;
• selfish motive (the attacker must be motivated by self-interest, otherwise no crime will be formed);
• illegality, i.e., contrary to the norms of modern legislation.

Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation consists of 7 parts, each of them contains qualification criteria that affect the severity of the punishment. Fraudsters can face from 2 to 10 years in prison. When choosing a punishment, the court is guided by the circumstances of the incident, the amount of theft, etc.

If you encounter fraud on the Internet, then you should complain to the same place as in the case of ordinary theft - to law enforcement agencies (for information on how to write a statement, read the article “Where and how to correctly file a fraud complaint (sample)”) . Don’t think that since you don’t know the scammer by sight, the matter is hopeless.

During the existence of fraud on the World Wide Web, law enforcement agencies have acquired sufficient skill in investigating such cases. You should not refuse to file a complaint because of the small amount of stolen money. It is quite possible that your complaint will not be the first, and the information provided by you will help bring the attackers to clean water.

We invite you to read: Exceeding official powers by a police officer

You might ask, where to go specifically when it comes to online scams?

All matters related to computer information in the Ministry of Internal Affairs system are handled by Department “K”.

For a faster response, you can submit an application directly to the regional department “K”, but it is quite enough to simply write a complaint to the police department at your place of residence - the police officers themselves will forward it according to their jurisdiction.

When writing an application, you must indicate all the information you have about the scammers, in particular:

• address of the fraudulent website;
• nickname of the attacker on the forum;
• account number or electronic wallet to which the funds were transferred;
• the phone number to which the SMS message was sent;
• scammer's email address, etc.

It should be noted that you can also submit a complaint anonymously (including orally by calling the hotline). But practice shows that such statements are considered with less enthusiasm. In addition, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, an anonymous statement cannot become a direct reason for initiating a case.

You can also file a complaint about fraud on the Internet electronically on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. To do this, you need to fill out a special form in the “Receiving Applications” section. In this case, the complaint should be addressed directly to the “K” department.

When committing fraud on the Internet, the article of law under which the perpetrator will be held liable depends on the value of the stolen property and the circumstances of the theft.

If the value of the stolen property is no more than 2,500 thousand rubles, then the fraudster is subject to administrative liability under Art. 7.27 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. As punishment, this provision provides for a fine, arrest for up to 15 days or compulsory labor.

How to check a VKontakte page for fraud?

To check the authenticity of a VK page, you need to take just a few steps:

1. Go to the suspicious user’s page and copy his ID (page number).
2. Go to “My News” “Search” “Search by Photo”, insert the seller ID and press “enter”. Here you will see all the posts that are on the VK social network, in which there was a specified link to this user.
3. Scroll through carefully and read the information. If someone wrote somewhere that the subject you are researching is a fraudster, then you will definitely see it.
4. If you didn’t find anything criminal, then copy the link to the page and go to the application
5. Paste the link into the application window and click on the “Find out” button.
6. Below you will see the real ID of the suspicious user.

How to check a group on VK: 3 ways

1. The first and most important way: check the mentions online.
   You can start with an internal search in VK, and then turn to any external search engine, for example Google. It is worth checking mentions not only by the name of the public, its link, but also by the names of administrators and links to them. If a group has previously been caught committing fraud, then most likely you will find out about it.
2. If an entrepreneur is engaged in the sale of goods and services that are more significant than homemade baked goods and crafts, then in addition to the VK group he must have a full-fledged website. His absence should be alarming. It's also worth checking out the group admin pages. You should be confused by the blank pages that are clearly recently created.
3. Read reviews. Here it is worth paying attention to their text, whether they are similar to the words of living people, or whether they are of the same type and were left at the same time. Go to the last page of reviews; if most of the pages from which entries were left are “dead,” then we can conclude that they were created using special services and should not be trusted.

In order to avoid falling into the clutches of scammers on VK, you should be attentive to all financial issues within the platform:

• double-check requests for help;
• do not pay for goods in advance;
• do not use dubious services;
• and not follow the lead of the blackmailers.

It is better to complain about any suspicious activity within the platform, and if you lose money, immediately contact the bank and the police.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and press Ctrl Enter.

We solve legal problems of any complexity. #Stay home and leave your question to our lawyer in the chat. It's safer this way.

Ask a Question

Fourth scheme

Not exactly a scam, but we’ll still tell you about this scheme. Imagine that you woke up in the morning, opened a VK page on your computer and saw unusual functionality, for example, guests of your page. This is a dream? Maybe because such functionality is not available in VK. But in reality, these could be tricks of a previously installed browser extension, including VK. Some of these plugins are capable of not only changing the appearance of the page, but also redirecting the user to the desired page (say, with viruses), including additional advertising on literally any page, downloading malicious files... You should be extremely careful when installing browser plugins.

How to complain within a social network?

The VK website is an Internet platform that is not responsible for all its inhabitants. That is, inside the resource you can at most freeze the scammers’ page, but this is unlikely to stop them, because you can create a new one, and it certainly won’t return your lost funds; all this can only be done by the police.

In order to report a scammer’s personal page, you need to click on the ellipses located under the avatar and select the “report page” tab. You won’t be able to complain about a group or public in this way, but you can do it on their posts using the same scheme: an ellipsis on the left above the post, then complain.

You can also write a request to technical support. For this:

1. On your own page, you need to select the “help” tab. You will be taken to a page with the most popular questions from users, but since we are not interested in a question, but in a complaint, we select any one, after which we select the “this does not solve my problem” tab, and then “I still have questions” and “ask a question”.
2. In the field that opens, describe the entire problem, add a link to the scammer and screenshots of your correspondence.

How to block a VKontakte group for fraud?

Control over the content posted on the social network is exercised by the resource’s technical support service. If you find a group or user who cheats, distributes pornography, or extremist materials, their actions must be stopped.

The most common reasons for filing a complaint with VK technical support:

• disclosure of personal information;
• slander;
• distribution of photos from a personal archive without the user’s permission;
• distribution of extremist materials;
• advertising and sale of non-existent goods and services.

The technical support service acts as a judge for social network users . If the complaint is justified, the group will be blocked. Based on the results of consideration of the complaint, a notice is sent to the applicant.

A collective complaint has priority - it is considered faster than a complaint from a single user. The more complaints are filed against a group, the greater the chance that it will be blocked.

Making a complaint

To file a complaint with VK, proceed as follows:

1. On the main page, click on the “Help” section.
2. Several options for submitting an appeal will be offered here. Select "None Matches".
3. Click Next, then Ask a Question.
4. State the essence of the complaint, attach links to the user's page.
5. Ask to understand the situation.
6. Express your demands for punishment (blocking, removal from VK, etc.).

The response is sent to the applicant within 30 days.

Penalties applied to violators:

• removal of defamatory information, blocking access;
• deleting a group from a social network;
• prohibition on posting links to suspicious services online.

If the application does not give the desired result, all that remains is to contact the government authorities.
A complaint against virtual scammers can be filed with the police and prosecutor's office . Moreover, this must be done promptly, since scammers can delete the group at any time.

Procedure for filing a complaint:

1. Collect information about the fraudster: ID, phone number, etc.
2. Print a copy of the correspondence.
3. Collect documents confirming the fact of transfer of funds.
4. Look on social networks for other users who have suffered from scammers.
5. Contact the police with a statement.
6. Receive a second copy with a stamp, number and registration date.

The Federal Supervision Service Roskomnadzor also accepts complaints about VKontakte groups . It is better to contact here if a VK user violates copyright in the field of literature or art.

On the official page of this department () you can send an online appeal, in which you should indicate:

• Full name of the applicant;
• registration address;
• the reason for filing the complaint;
• the essence of the appeal;
• screenshots from VKontakte pages.

Internet fraud. Concept and basic forms

From a legal perspective, fraud is the theft of property that is accomplished through deception or breach of trust. That is, stealing other people's money or other valuables using the Internet is exactly the same criminal offense as fraud committed in real life.

Today, online fraud comes in a wide variety of forms. We list the most common of them:

• offer of participation in various projects, entry into which requires payment of a fee;
• hacking and blocking of accounts on social networks, to restore access to which the scammers then ask to send an SMS message, which costs a lot of money and does not at all guarantee unblocking;
• blocking the operating system using viruses, to remove which, as in the previous case, you need to send an SMS to a specific number;
• requests to transfer money for treatment and other charitable purposes (however, not all requests of this kind are fraudulent);
• sending emails with a message about the blocking of an electronic wallet (bank card, etc.) and a request to follow the specified link and enter personal data;
• organization of financial pyramids;
• sale of goods with the condition of prepayment, if in reality the buyer does not receive the goods (or a cheaper item arrives).

If the money was transferred to the fraudster through an electronic payment system (for example, WebMoney), you should contact the support service of this PS. It is quite possible that after this the scammer’s wallet will be blocked. In addition, the support service can find out the passport details of the owner of the wallet who illegally received money. Knowing this data will allow you to go to court with a claim to recover funds.

The key link in the procedure for judicial collection of funds transferred to a fraudster from a payment card is the investigative activity of the police, who must make an official request to the bank and identify the recipient of the payment.

This must be done in order to determine the defendant in a civil suit, since conducting such cases against an entity whose identity has not been established is not permitted.

If the police do not fulfill their prescribed role, then further process will become impossible and then it will be necessary to contact the prosecutor's office with a statement in which all the circumstances of the incident will be outlined, including contacting law enforcement agencies.

The request to the prosecutor's office should be that police officers are required to carry out the necessary procedural steps and restore justice.

Easy money on the Internet, sites with free music, financial pyramids, online casinos, beauties from a dating site, iPhones at half price - this is almost always a scam. Someone wants to extract money from you under an innocent pretext.

How to save money when there are enemies all around

On the Internet, scammers use the same techniques as in life: they play on greed and fear. Only the target of fraud is not cash, but bank card and electronic account data. Once the scammer gets it, he can take your money, transfer it across multiple accounts, and cash out—without being likely to be caught.

To fall for scammers, you don’t need to specifically look for hot spots on the Internet. Fraudsters can find you on social networks, write you a letter, and even text you on Skype. Gradually they will begin to put pressure on you, rush you, and force you to make rash decisions. If you succumbed to emotions and lost your vigilance, you became a victim of fraud.

What schemes do online scammers use?

Let's look at the most common VKontakte fraud schemes:

1. Attackers create a group and offer goods or services at very low prices. Most often, scammers offer: the services of healers and psychics, branded goods at discounted prices, and loans. After payment, the user does not receive anything and is blacklisted by scammers. Or the goods are delivered, but of very low quality. Groups offering loans promise, for a minimum payment fee, a quick decision by the bank on a loan or correction of your credit history. Fraudsters obtain passport and other user data, which they later use for illegal purposes.
2. They create a compromising photograph or correspondence, and then blackmail the “target”.
3. They send out supposedly charitable letters of appeal with requests to help sick or missing people, abandoned animals. In fact, scammers are hiding behind emotional appeals, and photos of real people are taken from the websites of charitable foundations.
4. Fraudsters hack the profile, block the account and demand money from the owner for the access recovery code. Scammers obtain login and password data in various ways. The most common way is to create a duplicate of the VK page with the requirement to re-authorize or enter a mobile phone number. All information becomes available to criminals, and the owner of the page has many problems with his friends, and sometimes with the law. The second way to obtain information is through letters from friends’ addresses, including phishing links to photos that supposedly compromise the user of the page. When you click on the specified link, a malicious program is downloaded that can completely block the computer, read all the data from it and transfer it to criminals.
5. The simplest scheme that a user may encounter is the requirement to send an expensive SMS message for the opportunity to unlock their device.
6. Fake pages of popular TV shows like “Battle of Psychics” are also created, on which people are lured with promises of restoring their health or improving their personal lives. For a fortune telling session, the applicant is asked to make a money transfer, the amount of which can reach several tens of thousands of rubles. Users who fall for the bait of scammers are left without money and without healing.
7. The following type of fraud often affects the female audience. Professional psychologists are involved in the scam and enter into correspondence with the intended victim. The purpose of communication is to gain trust and force the victim to write or do something that could compromise his good name.

Ways to lose money from a card

The desire to save on the cost of purchases or the lack of suitable goods in stores located in the comfort zone leads people to online stores and to the pages of distributors of various brands on social networks.

Most online sellers are quite clean and fulfill their obligations, receiving advance payment for goods and delivering the promised goods, although not always of adequate quality.

Against the backdrop of successful intermediary and trading operations, situations often arise when a remote user transferred money to a fraudster’s card, but has no idea how to return it.

There are two ways to lose money from your card:

• voluntarily transferring a certain amount as supposed payment for a fictitious product or service, or for other reasons;
• having lost confidential payment card data that allows you to make payments using it.

There is only one reason why people are deceived - excessive trust in completely unfamiliar subjects and insufficient vigilance, expressed in the reluctance to even superficially check the identity or details of a potential partner.

Unscrupulous individuals who do not lose restful sleep because of someone else’s grief come up with various schemes of deception, including:

1. Fictitious sale of new or previously used goods that are in demand and have fairly high prices in stationary retail outlets.
2. Imitation of charitable foundations and various collections of donations from compassionate citizens.
3. Payment for various unique educational or behavioral courses that supposedly can change a person’s life for the better in a few days.
4. Notifications about relatives in difficult life situations who need urgent help by transferring funds.

Regardless of the scheme being implemented, any fraudster takes advantage of the three main weaknesses of those around him - stupidity, greed and gullibility.

We invite you to read: Joining the police after military service

Every plastic payment card user has at least once wondered how scammers withdraw money from a bank card and what data they need for this.

Anyone who has heard the myth that scammers know how to withdraw money using a card number should calm down and not worry, since for this they will additionally need at least:

• first and last name embossed in large Latin letters on the front side of the card;
• a three-digit numeric code printed on the reverse side, which is usually not visible.

In addition to the listed levels of protection, banks, worrying about how to protect a bank card from fraudsters, everywhere introduce an additional barrier in the form of a password, which is sent to the linked phone number and used to confirm the transaction.

However, even such multi-level protection is not always sufficient for particularly sophisticated attackers who first obtain personal payment card data by installing a skimmer on an ATM, and then find out a mobile phone number by last name and first name.

By sending a short message to a well-known subscriber that he has become the winner of the drawing and in order to receive the prize, he needs to send a code to this number, which will arrive within a few seconds, the scammers force the victim to voluntarily give them the bank password.

Having thus obtained the key to the last protective barrier, the attackers make a large transaction, emptying the card.

Third scheme

Lately, such a trick has not taken place in VK, but it is still worth talking about. The idea is simple: you receive a link from some friend with a message like “look what I found.” As you can guess, the main problem is the link. When you switch, you will most likely be greeted by a Trojan or ransomware virus that will block your desktop and require you to send an expensive SMS message.

Fortunately, such types of “divorce” are rare, and besides, if you follow the link, the VKontakte system will most likely block the transition. However, if you receive such a message, think several times about whether to click on the link.

How to write to VKontakte technical support if the page is blocked

We told you how to contact VK technical support, but when it comes to the question or complaint itself, the question arises, “How to write.”

It is important to adhere to several rules:

1. Literacy. Whatever answer you want, write this text. Check several times for errors. It's easier to read balanced sentences than a bunch of words. Say whatever you want, describe the problem in as much detail as possible. Don’t be afraid to admit that if you gave away your password or number, the employees’ task is to help.
2. Decor. It is advisable to add several pictures that specifically show the reason for contacting support. It’s even better to send not an image, but a document. The quality will be better, which will affect the response time.
3. Culture. Do not use swear words (and it’s clear why). Don't badmouth the person or group you complained about. Your relationship is not about agents.

How to punish a VKontakte scammer?

If you do fall for a scammer, then write to technical support about it -
What to do if you are seriously scammed out of money?

1. Collect all the information about the scammer, page ID, print a copy of the correspondence, and the scammer’s phone number.
2. Collect all documents confirming the fact of the transaction, transfers, checks, etc.
3. Go to the police and write a statement, attaching all the materials on the case; pick up the receipt that your application has been accepted.

Before going to the police, it is advisable to find similar victims of the scammer: a collective complaint is processed much faster.

What could this mean?

Photo: Alexander But

In fact, the author and his wife were lucky - the scammers did not have time to harm them personally. But one of their acquaintances fell for the bait and transferred as much as 24 thousand rubles to the scammers. And this is the first thing that threatens a page being hacked.

The second is blackmail. Burglars will definitely go through all your correspondence, photos and videos, and documents. And if they find personal intimate photos there, then they will definitely not leave you alone and will extort money again and again.

Well, and thirdly, there is a risk that they will take out a loan in your name or draw up some “fake” documents. This does not happen often, but this does not mean that there is no threat at all. The heroes of this story did the right thing by contacting law enforcement agencies and microloans. Thus, they legally created a basis for themselves to challenge the loan in court, if it had been issued.

First scheme

Recently, this scheme has become popular. Attackers gain access to a user’s account in one way or another, that is, they obtain his login and password. The attacker then starts writing messages to the user's friends on his behalf. As you understand, this is where the scam begins: the attacker writes that, for example, he urgently needs to pay for the Internet, but has no money, so he asks users to transfer funds to his card. It would seem that it is not so difficult to guess that you are being simply scammed right now, but when a friend writes to a person, vigilance is reduced and people transfer funds!

The worst thing is that the user who owns the page often doesn’t even know that his friends were simply scammed out of money in such a brazen way.

Read more: is it possible to find a fraudster and punish him, return the money?

Of course, you want the fraudster to be found as quickly as possible and punished, as well as to return your money. But let's see if the VC administration can do anything.

When you find a product on VK, you buy it in the same way as if you bought it through an ad. You yourself negotiate with the seller about payment and delivery and you yourself must understand that he may turn out to be a fraudster. This is not an online store, but a social network where any user can write anything, including a message about the sale of a product. No one controls such a seller, and he usually does not give you any documents confirming payment and guaranteeing the quality of the goods.

Let’s imagine: VK receives a complaint in which a person asks to block another person’s page on the grounds that he is a fraudster. Let's say VK does this. How will this stop the scammer? He will create exactly the same page in five minutes and will continue to deceive people.

See also

The problem is that it is difficult to check whether it is a scammer or not. Of course, you know for sure that you were deceived, but why should they believe you?

Let's compare two situations:

1. You transferred the money to the seller and received the goods.
2. You transferred money and received nothing.

Inside VK there is no information about the movement of money or goods. Therefore, it is difficult to figure out who is right. What evidence do you have that you sent money? Let's say you can show a screenshot from online banking, but it can be easily faked. To actually check this, you need to find out about the movement of funds through accounts in a bank or payment system. No one will give such information to the VK administration. But make sure you have a paper receipt or bank statement.

Does the seller have proof that he sent you the goods? You say: he had to send the goods by mail, let him show the receipt! However, the seller may say that you called and he gave you the goods personally (or sent by courier). Remember: when you bought a product through an ad on VK and received it in person, did you sign somewhere? Thus, in both situations there is no simple and objective evidence of the honesty of both the seller and the buyer.

So, it is very difficult to verify such trading. Fraudsters take advantage of people's naivety and scam them out of hundreds a day. People themselves understand the risk, but, attracted by the low price or something else, they continue to send money to complete strangers.

Perhaps you have an idea: let VKontakte find the scammer through the police! In fact, you should contact the police yourself - this is your personal relationship with the person who deceived you. And the VK site, like any other site with advertisements, was only a means of communication. After all, if you were asked to transfer money not on the Internet, but by phone, you would not ask the telephone company to block the deceiver or find him, but would go to the police. Exactly the same here. And when you write a statement to the police, she herself will contact the VK administration and ask for the information she needs about this person.

Can VK help me return the money I sent to the scammer?

No, he can not. You sent money directly to the scammer. He simply wrote to you on VK where to send them. He could send it by mail, say it on the phone, write it on paper or on the fence. The VK administration cannot control in any way what kind of relationship you have with him. Accordingly, she cannot intervene in them either. If VK has any information about a fraudulent user, it can only be released to law enforcement agencies.

useful links

How to recognize a VKontakte scammer?

Fake accounts are easy to spot . Go to the potential scammer's page. Carefully study all the information about him: his albums, hobbies, school, place of work, friends, contacts.

There will be no detailed information on the scammer’s page: only a partially completed application form and a couple of “fresh” avatars from downloaded pictures. Moreover, all information will be created simultaneously.

Check in VK if there is a person with the same name and page design . Next, check the suspect’s page ID with the page ID that opens via the link on the portal.

It is not difficult to find out the ID: it can appear immediately in the address bar (if the person has not chosen a “personal” VK address); the second method is simply hover over the “send message” button and you will see a link, for example: These numbers are the VKontakte user ID.

If everything matches, the person is registered on the social network and his profile does not raise suspicions, then go to his website/group. Check how long ago they were created using the whois service.

To find out the “age” of a VK group, you can look at the dates of the very first posts/comments.

If the group sells a product, then look at what guarantees are provided to the buyer. Does it say anything about refunds if the transaction fails? What conditions are offered?

It is also worth looking at people's reviews of the seller. Find older ones among them and go to the pages of the people who left these reviews. If the review is not fake, then most of these pages will be actively updated.

If the “object of research” has passed all these stages of verification, then most likely a deal can be concluded with him.

How and where to complain about scammers?

There are a lot of scammers on VKontakte.
The VK administration does not regulate the activities of such groups and users and does not check the goods that are sold through the social network. The administration’s position is this: they provide a platform, a means of communication, but they do not have the opportunity to verify the transfer of money and the fact of transfer of goods or provision of services. VKontakte is not a store. They don't monitor whether a group (or user) is committing fraud. You yourself, voluntarily, decide to transfer money to someone. If a problem arises (money was transferred - the full amount or an advance payment, but the goods were not sent, the service was not provided, you were deceived and added to the black list), this needs to be dealt with through the police, court or Rospotrebnadzor. You can do this via the Internet:

Only they have the authority to investigate such cases. At an official request from law enforcement agencies or by a court decision, VKontakte will provide them with all possible assistance in finding scammers and may block the scammer’s group or page.

To send a complaint to a page, VK has a standard “Complain” function. At the same time, you indicate the reason for the complaint; Among the options there is the item “Fraud”. However, remember that VKontakte is not a law enforcement agency, and blocking a page will not stop a criminal. When faced with fraud, you need to not only complain about the page, but also file a complaint with the police. VK will not do this for you. And of course, VK will not look for the scammer and return your money.

What to do and where to contact government agencies?

You should complain about fraud in VK to the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at your place of residence, or to department “K” (the department that fights cyber crime). It is best to submit two applications to both departments. Applications can be submitted at the physical branch, as well as through the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The application should include the following information::

1. Full information about the situation that occurred.
2. Provide the amount of money lost.
3. Details to which the money was transferred.
4. Tell us how you transferred the money.

The application is accompanied by copies of payment documents that confirm the transfer of funds, screenshots of correspondence with scammers, as well as with technical support of the site, a copy of the application to the bank, and any other information about the scammer. In this case, the money will be returned to you upon completion of the entire process, if the suspect is found and convicted.

Read more about where to contact if you are being scammed via the Internet here.

How to block your VK page for a while

There is no need to take any special actions before blocking your VKontakte page for a while. Log in to the system, click on the name in the upper right corner and select “Settings” from the drop-down list. Then proceed according to the following scheme:

• go to the “Privacy” section;
• scroll to the very bottom;
• in the “Profile type” line, select closed;
• To be sure, limit the circle of people who can send messages.

The attacker will lose the ability to contact you directly - only your friends will have contact. But this method will not remove the page from the social network - you can still be harassed in comments and general discussions. If you need to block access forever, try using a radical option and freezing the page forever.

Signs of VKontakte fraud

Every user should be wary when a resource requires you to enter a phone number or bank card information. The instructions allow you to recognize the deceiver and not fall for his bait. If this has already happened, then every user should know how to punish the criminal and return the money.

VKontakte fraud appeared almost from the formation of this social resource. Scammers have learned to cleverly scam users. Most often this happens when joining a group. If an unknown person tries to get money out of money by deception, then it will be very difficult to return it and then punish the criminal. To do this, you will have to contact the competent authorities and write a statement.

Signs of fraud:

1. New profile.
2. Low price of goods.
3. When registering on the site, you are immediately required to provide a phone number and bank card details.
4. Intrusiveness.
5. The promise of quick earnings with minimal investment.

Hacking a user's page on the Internet is much easier than it might seem. Therefore, even if you have a complex password, there is a possibility of hacking.

It is worth paying attention if a person sends strange messages asking for a loan or payment for goods. In this case, it is better to block the user immediately. Fraudsters on VK often create a marketing network, and a person will realize that he was deceived too late.

You should only make purchases of online goods on trusted sites.

Examples of scams on social networks

First, let's understand the existing types of scams on social networks.

Funds for children's treatment and charity

One of the most common methods of deception. It’s very sad, but there are people who are ready to put pressure on your sense of compassion and empathy and publish information about an urgent collection of money, for example, for a sick child.

Therefore, before you commit a noble deed, make sure that your hard-earned money will actually go to the stated charitable purposes and not into someone else's pocket. To do this, study information about the fund, how long it has existed, and whether reports on receipts and expenditures of funds are published.

Also, a list of funds that you can trust is, for example, on the websites: www.wse-wmeste.ru and https://podari-zhizn.ru

Account hacking

Surely, at least once in your life, you received a strange message from, for example, a classmate Kolya Petrov, from whom you have been “neither heard nor heard for five years” with a request to urgently borrow 5,000 rubles and promises to return them from your salary? Don't be so naive.

The best option would be to call the person and talk to him personally. Or at least ask Kolya what the name of your math teacher was or what street your school was on.

In 99% of cases, such messages mean that Kolya has only one problem - his page was hacked.

To avoid being hacked yourself, check your password and make sure it is secure. Or do you think that the code “12345678” is so difficult to figure out?

Phishing

And we're not talking about fishing at all. This term refers to a type of Internet fraud, the essence of which is to create copies of popular sites, including social networks.

An unsuspecting user enters his username and password on the site, not noticing a slight rearrangement of letters in the name, thanks to which his data is sent to someone unknown and for what purpose.

To protect yourself, you should not even click on links that you received in a message from a stranger. The reasons that scammers come up with are very varied: publishing your personal data, intimate photos, or simply offering to find out who viewed your page.

Also pay attention to the site address and warnings from your browser that it is unsafe to click on an external link.

Sudden victory in a competition or inheritance

They can write to you about winning anything: a free manicure, an iPhone, an apartment in Moscow... The gift is definitely yours! The last step remains - paying for delivery or legal services to register the property. Is it worth clarifying that when transferring 300 rubles for delivery, your interlocutor will never answer you again.

Also be careful with various groups like “I’ll give it away for free”; do not transfer money for delivery until you are sure that they are going to send you anything at all!

Network psychic

One of the most popular fraud schemes on VKontakte is related to magic and esotericism. Attackers create fake accounts of participants in the television show “Battle of Psychics” on social networks, choosing only unpopular participants who do not have their own website and pages on social networks. Then the “pseudo-medium” publishes a friendly post on the wall containing information about the “psychic” and his magical abilities, and distributes it across thematic social network communities or third-party forums under the guise of clients satisfied with the clairvoyant’s services. To add credibility, charlatans decorate the page with menacing warnings about possible deception by fake psychics.

If a potential client contacts him, the “clairvoyant” carefully examines his profile and, based on the information received, answers questions. The list of services of online psychics includes various rituals, including the evil eye, damage and love spells. Their cost varies from 1,000 to 5,000 rubles. When a client asks whether the cherished ritual has been performed, the false psychic simply writes back that he has completed the service.

What else can be done to punish scammers?

The most useful thing you can do is share this article with your friends. Then scammers will not be able to deceive them. Look below the buttons “This is interesting” (and then “Tell your friends”), “Share”, “I recommend”. And if you were deceived, tell us about it in the comments.

In the modern world, it is unlikely that you will be able to find a person who does not have and has never had an account on the Internet. Social networks have long become a common way to communicate, find friends, establish useful contacts and business correspondence. Unfortunately, as their role in our lives increases, so does the number of scammers, for whom our favorite means of online communication become a platform for financial and other frauds.

In the article we will look at the most popular social network in Russia - vk.com “VKontakte” and figure out what to do to avoid becoming a victim of scammers and how to complain about a scammer in VKontakte if you are already unlucky and your page has been hacked.

Dear readers! Our articles talk about typical ways to resolve legal issues, but each case is unique.

If you want to find out how to solve your particular problem, please contact the online consultant form on the right or call +7 8

It's fast and free!

VK fraudulent schemes

The types of fraudulent schemes and their main features will help you identify the criminal:

• bank card transactions;
• money borrowed against a receipt;
• exchanger;
• sale of non-existent goods;
• deception of freelancers;
• participation in the competition;
• business ideas;
• SMS notifications;
• lotteries;
• hacking electronic wallets.

If a citizen has already been deceived, then it is worth writing a complaint to law enforcement agencies. You should first contact the resource administration. You can also complain to the competent authorities, who can punish the offender.

You can’t let things take their course, because that’s what scammers are counting on. They are sure that a person will not waste time to return 100-200 rubles.

Why do they ask for a phone number?

Fraud on VKontakte most often does not take place without a request to provide a phone number. Divorce can begin with harmless correspondence or by seeking help from a specialist. For example, a person wants to consult on a legal issue. Even when registering on the site, do not rush to provide your phone number. There is a possibility that funds will be written off or the resource will send annoying messages with “advantageous offers”.

You need to check every contact - this will help to recognize the criminal. Study the list of contacts on the user’s page, look at the date of publication of the photo. If they are all dated on the same date, then there is a high probability of a fake. Therefore, at the first suspicion, you need to include a person in an emergency situation.

Photo baiting

Divorce between classmates and VK may not be on financial grounds. Deception can be caused by luring girls into intimate photos. If a person is asked to send a photo for a fee, most often the transfer of funds will not be made. Further, these photographs can be found on a porn site.

Divorce of girls in Odnoklassniki and VKontakte most often occurs when meeting a nice guy. Be careful about virtual reality and online dating.

Transferring money to a card

Social media experts do not recommend sharing your email address or card information with strangers. When a person orders a product through the world wide web and provides personal data, this could be a scam. Therefore, it is necessary to check the site for authenticity.

Small amounts for delivery

Most often, delivery on common resources is free. If a social network user asks to pay for the delivery of goods, then you should be wary. If the quality of the product does not correspond to the description, the money for delivery will not be returned, even if it is transferred for the purchased product.

Things or services for free

Now there are more and more resources where people can accept things as gifts. These sites have easy registration and many positive reviews. But there are some resources that offer to donate household items or clothing if the person pays the shipping costs. It is better to avoid such “charitable foundations”. It is worth looking for sites that provide humanitarian aid at the place of residence, so that a person has the opportunity to come and pick up the goods in person.

Winning a product in a raffle

Such charity events are often offered by online stores and there is nothing criminal about it. If a person accumulates points, he can exchange them for products. Popular resources organize competitions, for example, “guess the price” or “purchase a product for 1 ruble.”

But if a person receives an SMS on his phone indicating that he has become the winner of some mythical draw, then this is most likely a scam. These messages can be sent by unfamiliar organizations or completely real ones.

If a person received an SMS from a cellular operator, with the text that the subscriber can participate in a competition or quiz by sending SMS. All messages are paid, and a social survey showed that it is impossible to win. This is not considered illegal, but people have long given a name to such legal fraud - “scam”.