The key facts
- Scammers select victims in building chats and move to private communication, offering a 'free book'
- Instead of a book, malicious scripts and fake PDF pages are sent, leading to the theft of data and accounts
- The prosecutor's office advises downloading literature only from official library and publisher resources
The scheme via building chats
Scammers in Russia have adapted apartment building group chats for their purposes: they pose as neighbors and offer residents free e-books. This was reported by RIA Novosti, citing materials from the prosecutor's office, a summary is provided by Life.ru.
How the deception works
The fraudsters first select potential victims among participants in a building's group chats, then move to private conversations, counting on the trust between neighbors. The interlocutor is offered a free e-book, but instead they send a file capable of leading to the theft of personal data. For this, malicious scripts and fake web pages imitating PDF documents are used. After interacting with such content, a person risks giving attackers access to personal information and their accounts.
What happens to the stolen data
Scammers can use stolen accounts to send unwanted messages and to contact the victim's acquaintances with requests to transfer money. In addition, the stolen information can be resold to other parties. The peculiarity of the scheme is that it exploits trust within building chats: the victim sees a message from a 'neighbor' rather than a stranger, and is therefore more likely to open the attachment.
Recommendations and other schemes
The prosecutor's office recommended downloading literature only from reliable sources — for example, from the official resources of libraries and publishers — and not opening suspicious attachments, even if they were sent by a member of a familiar chat. Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs warned about fraud under the pretext of employment: criminals post job vacancies, and after a response, a 'representative of a non-existent company' requests passport details or photos of documents, which can then be used for financial schemes. The police urged people to verify employers and not to send personal documents to unknown persons until the legitimacy of the offer is confirmed.
