The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia conducted a study of reports and criminal proceedings received in cases of crimes against property during 2022, which shows that cases of fraudulent theft using advertisements for the sale of goods on online shopping platforms (for example, “List. am").

 

Crimes of this nature are committed mainly according to two scenarios.

 

In one case, after placing an advertisement for the sale of goods on such trading platforms, unknown persons contact the advertiser through the WhatsApp application registered under foreign or local phone numbers and ask for their bank card details to purchase goods and transfer money to a bank card. The latter inform the “buyer” of their bank card details, including codes, after which the criminals fraudulently withdraw money from their bank card.

 

In other cases, under the pretext of buying a product to sell online, the criminals use the same method to contact advertisers and express their desire to buy the product. However, under the pretext that they live in another locality, they offer to conclude an electronic contract through HayPost, according to which the latter pays a certain amount, and in return the courier delivers the goods to this locality. Then the criminals send out the so-called “Haypost” trap link, through which people register, also register bank details and codes, after which they find out that the link is fake and that their trust  has been abused. And with the help of computer technology, by downloading the bank data received via a fake link, the criminal has the opportunity to transfer money from the ATM card to other gaming or personal accounts and rob them.

 

The study confirms that criminals act according to a pre-planned scenario and scheme, in many cases using "psychological traps" and causing the "victim" to be interested in giving them the details of a secure ATM card in a matter of minutes. To do this, for example, the “buyer” offers to pay for the goods quickly, without agreeing on a price, which tempts the seller not to reject the offer and provide bank card details.

 

At the same time, criminals use the data of many persons, that is, the criminal act covers more than one episode.

 

For the first half of 2022 145 cases of crimes committed in the specified order were registered, of which only 11 cases of criminal acts were not completed due to lack of funds on the provided card account.

 

82 criminal cases were initiated, of which only 2 were solved.

 

The total damage inflicted in cases of this crime amounted to 18.147.818 AMD.

 

Studies show that the growth of robberies in this way is mainly due to the fact that the victims are not aware, do not have sufficient knowledge about cash circulation systems in ATMs, the rules for using cards. A contributing factor is also the confidence of criminals that their theft will not be detected through the uncontrolled use of communications and the transfer of stolen money to several accounts.

 

Based on the above and the prevalence of this criminal scheme, the RA Prosecutor's Office calls on citizens not to:

 

disclose to other persons the protected conditions of the operation of your ATM cards, the numbers on them, especially the PIN code, in this case the protection of electronic payment systems may be objectively powerless to prevent criminals from accessing the card funds.

 

In the case of offering electronic sales contracts on behalf of a credible communication organization or any other organization, check in advance with these organizations that the service for concluding such electronic contracts is available, that is, take additional corrective measures to determine the authenticity and reliability of the proposed Internet links.

 

Take steps to continue communicating with those who offer to purchase a product through controlled, personally identifiable means of communication and beware of conducting online transactions with those who do not.