Scammers use promised pension increases to solicit one-time codes

Scammers are offering pensioners and their relatives help securing increased or recalculated payments to obtain text-message verification codes, according to Moshelovka, an anti-fraud platform run by Popular Front.

The callers impersonate pension officials or employees of the Social Fund of Russia. They pressure recipients to act quickly and claim that an electronic application through an automated system is needed to receive additional money.

They then request a one-time code, supposedly to complete the application. The platform warned that disclosing it could enable criminals to enter a Gosuslugi account or gain access to money in a bank account.

Pension indexation is carried out automatically and does not require confirmation over the phone, the platform said. Government employees do not ask people to disclose one-time passwords or access codes.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs previously reported a related tactic involving supposed appointments at military enlistment offices. In both schemes, callers disguise their request for a text-message code as a step in arranging a government service.