How swindlers can set up your credit?

The procedure for obtaining loans and credits has simplified, leaving a lot of loopholes for fraudsters. Roskatchestvo Financial Expertise Center explains if it is really possible to obtain a loan without your knowledge.

You will receive a text message telling you that your loan is approved. What it means and what to do about it?

Such mailings come both from large banks and from dubious microfinance institutions MFIs . From time to time mass media sources publish information that unfair persons can easily get access to client bases of some financial institution, and such bases are the basis for such “cold” telephone calls and newsletters. But messages that say “you are approved for a loan of a certain amount” do not mean that the loan has already been taken out on you. It happens to be a common tactic to lure customers, which can be annoying but unlikely to be of interest to law enforcement.

Sergey Kuzmenko, a senior expert for testing digital products of Roskatchestvo:

“Ignorance does not exempt from responsibility, so arm yourself with knowledge and inform your loved ones. The Roskatchestvo portal has already published a series of materials about data leakage. In particular, we have already told you how to recognize messages from scammers and protect your smartphone. If you show awareness and confident behavior during a suspicious call, the attackers will not harass you and continue to call. Also, we recommend that you look closely at the new service of mobile operators – a virtual number. This option can be convenient when using a regular number is undesirable precisely in order to maintain confidentiality – to register on websites, forums, to receive, for example, an activation code or to issue a customer card in a store”.

Can I get a loan with a lost passport or passport information??

The practice of banks and MFIs to disburse small amounts when applying online so-called simplified identification is becoming more and more widespread. And for this the only thing you need from the applicant is passport data, photo or scan of passport.

This is the kind of information we provide to access all sorts of everyday services, from fitness clubs to wireless carriers. This means that all it takes is a leak of passport information with a scan of your passport for fraudsters to take a loan in someone else’s name. In addition, criminals often hack into consumer sites and even government portals, then use the information obtained for their own illegal purposes.

Your passport and Social Security Number may be enough for a small loan. The registration takes place without personal presence. That is why it is so important not to publish your data in social networks, not to fill out forms on dubious sites.

Even more deplorable situation is when a person loses his passport and does not immediately notice the loss. If the document falls into the hands of fraudsters, they can take dozens of microloans from different institutions in one day.

Don’t banks and MFIs have to check identity and documents?? Must and do check, otherwise the number of fraudulent loans would increase thousands of times. Reputable institutions are very careful about identity and document checks, but crooks still find loopholes:

• Financial institutions do not check customer data thoroughly enough. MFIs and banks may employ third-party services for document verification, while they perform only perfunctory verification. Some MFIs do not conduct additional identification steps, limiting themselves to passport data, and this is easily exploited by fraudsters.

• Scammers use clever ways to bypass the verification. Video conference or personal meeting with the borrower, or, for example, a photo of the borrower with documents in hand may be needed for identity verification and proof of identity. But criminals have also learned to get around these obstacles. With the level of availability of high technology it is not worth anything to fake a photo and even a video. For a personal meeting, however, scammers either look for a similar person or disguise themselves as the owner of the documents, forging a signature for him.

• Fraudsters attract associates on the side of financial institutions. It is unprofitable for banks and MFIs to lend money to clients who will never pay it back. But at the same time banking companies are interested in profits. Some dishonest employees of banks and MFIs are interested in personal financial gain. Scammers may pre “process” some organization on forums or TG channels, looking for an accomplice on the side of the bank willing to approve a loan to the scammers. So the bank employee enters the stake.

You have lost your smartphone. Can they apply for a credit for you??

Such cases are possible if your smartphone is stolen or lost, and you do not have time to block the SIM card. If the banking app doesn’t have sufficient security measures in place, fraudsters can manage to take credit through the app. In this case, it will be difficult to prove later that it was not you who took the credit. In the conditions of banking services the banks prescribe that the bank is not responsible if the client “loses or transfers his cell phone to unauthorized persons”. All transactions confirmed from the phone are considered to be confirmed by you personally.

What precautions should you take to avoid becoming a victim of fraud??

• Take care of your passport. Report the loss to the police immediately. If the passport is stolen – even more so. In this case, you will not have to pay a fine.

• Do not send scans or photos of your passport to suspicious sites or unknown users. If you send scans of documents by mail or messenger, then delete the original messages. So, if your accounts are hacked, the attackers will not get to the data from the documents.

• Take care of passport photocopies, don’t leave them visible, don’t forget them at copying services, etc.d.

• Set additional levels of identification on your phone and banking app.

• Check your credit history. To do this, make a request to the BCI credit bureau to find out if any loans are in your name. This is a two-step procedure: first, you need to find out which bureau has your data on you at Gosuslugi. Then you need to send an online request for a credit report on the website of the Bureau of Credit Analysis. Twice a year this can be done for free. For other inquiries you will have to pay.

Igor Pozdnyakov, lawyer of the consumer rights protection department of Roskatchestvo:

“Due to the rapid development of digital technology none of us is safe from fraudulent activities. So even if you have never applied for credit, it is advisable to check your credit history regularly – for example, every six months thanks, it’s free twice a year . But if an unpleasant event has happened lost passport, smartphone, it has become known about mass “leakage” of personal data to the Internet, etc. , you’ll need a mop.p. , it is best to request a credit report as soon as possible. If you check your credit history on a regular basis you will be able to identify in time the borrowing or attempted borrowing by fraudsters, and as a result you will be able to minimize the negative consequences.