A Kazakhstani woman told about a new fraud scheme in Telegram through fake gifts, Tengri Life reports.

Our editorial number on WhatsApp was contacted by a reader who became a victim of a new Telegram fraud scheme. The woman said that she received a message from her friend with an offer to get a free premium subscription in the messenger. The message looked like a festive gift in honor of the New Year and contained an activation link.

“I received a message from a friend, he sent a link, allegedly it was a gift in the form of a Telegram Premium subscription for the New Year. I scanned the QR code using the link, and then I discovered that a third-party device was linked to my account,” the Kazakhstani woman said.

Fortunately, she discovered this fact quickly enough and blocked access, as well as changed passwords in all social networks and bank accounts. When the girl wrote to her friend to clarify whether he had sent this message, it turned out that his account had been hacked.

How the fraudulent scheme works

The scheme faced by the Kazakhstani woman has become widespread. Recently, experts from the KZ-CERT National Computer Incident Response Service warned about a new dangerous fraud scheme related to the popular Telegram messenger.

According to experts, the attackers are actively using the festive atmosphere to deceive users by offering fake gifts with a phishing link. When clicking on it and entering the data for authorization in Telegram, the user unwittingly passes on his/her credentials to scammers, who then gain full access to his/her account. The messages are distributed through previously hacked accounts of contacts in the recipient’s list, which makes them especially plausible.

How to protect yourself

Experts strongly recommend following the following safety rules:

• do not click on suspicious links, even if the message looks like it was sent to your friends, make sure it is authentic;
• check the senders — fraudsters often create fake accounts by copying photos and names of real users;
• enable two-factor authentication – this will create an additional layer of protection for your Telegram account.

What to do if access to your account is lost

If your account is under threat or you have already become a victim of fraud, you should contact Telegram support service as soon as possible and notify them of the incident.

“Be careful and protect your data!”, the KZ-CERT specialists emphasized.

Remember: no promotion or gift is worth the risk of losing access to your account and personal data!

Source of information: https://tengrinews.kz/healthy/vam-podarok-moshenniki-nashli-novyiy-sposob-obmana-559569/