Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Russia's Central Bank Warns Against Fraud Amid Pandemic


Tue 07 Apr 2020 | 11:38 PM
Taarek Refaat

The Russian Central Bank (CBR) has warned citizens against virus related bank account fraud with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Central Bank said in a statement that the scammers have actively started using the subject of coronavirus to obtain information about the bank accounts of the victims.

The bank stated that scammers contact the victims and present themselves as bank employees, and they promise to provide banking assistance such as delaying loan installments in light of the spread of the virus, in addition to extending a helping hand to obtain other financial compensation, and with this pretext they lure the victim to obtain valuable information.

The CBR pointed to other methods of fraud, where fraudsters send files containing malicious programs via e-mail, as official reports about the spread of coronavirus from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international bodies, and these programs penetrate the victim's devices and steal his banking information.

"The bank continues to track the counts of fraud," Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Dmitry Skobelkin said.

“We assume that the virus may be exploited by attackers for the duration of a pandemic, it does not exclude the emergence of new methods of introduction of citizens in error. We continue to monitor the situation and are in constant contact with banks and other financial institution," Skobelkin added.

The CBR urged citizens under any circumstances not to reveal credit card or banking information, including passwords to unknown sources.

Meantime, Russian banks are asking the country's central bank to resume official gold purchases that stopped on April 1, citing concerns about gold exports amid turmoil in the transport industry due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The main problem revolves around the sale of Russian gold abroad due to the lack of available cargo flights, raising costs.

Analysts pointed to the challenges facing the Russian economy including the partial lockdown, high volatility, oil price war with Saudi Arabia, and the country's economic outlook.

Russia is the third-largest gold producer in the world and its top gold buyers are the nation’s own central bank, the U.K. and Switzerland.