Many Russians have at least once encountered scammers trying to steal money from their bank cards. The potential loss of savings forces people to play it safe, sometimes going beyond what is reasonable. We checked whether it is enough for scammers to know your card number to steal money.
Despite all the efforts of banks, Russians annually lose huge sums due to fraudsters. In 2017 from bank cards stolen almost a billion rubles, in 2019 the amount reached 6.5 billion per year. Almost a third of Russians encountered with attempts by scammers to steal money from their cards, but another conclusion from sociologists is much more frightening: 27% of respondents are ready in such a situation to provide almost any information about their credit or debit card. Reluctance to become a victim of criminals who come up with more and more new deception schemes lead people to the conclusion: if I do not disclose any information, I will be protected.
To carry out an operation using a bank card, you need to know its details: 16-digit number, first and last name of the owner, expiration date and three-digit security code on the back. It is this data that we indicate on the Internet when we pay for our purchases, and then we receive a confirmation code from the bank in the form of an SMS or push notification in the application. Within one operation, this code can be considered the fifth element of the details.
A person who knows all the details has absolute access to the money in the account, and it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the real card owner or a fraudster. This data can be used both for a simple transfer of funds to someone else’s card, and for purchases in an online store. However, some online markets do not require the entire set of details to make a payment - just the card number, owner’s name and expiration date.
Is your card number enough for scammers to steal your money? These 16 digits by themselves do not provide access to the account, so you can easily communicate them to a relative or colleague for transfer. There is nothing dangerous about paying the bill after dinner at a restaurant and showing your friends your card so that they can transfer money for the food and drinks they ordered. The card number is more than enough for this; no other details need to be provided (or you can even ask to transfer money by phone number, modern technologies allow this).
If you publish your card number on your page on a social network, then scammers can only look whose page it is to find out your first and last name. Transliterating them is a simple matter, and now the attackers already have two details. At the same time, do not forget that finding a 16-digit card number is much more difficult than the security code or card expiration date. The first is a three-digit number, the second is even easier to guess: the card is valid from three to five years, there are 12 months in a year - there are only a few dozen options. If fraudsters manage to guess the security code and card expiration date, these are already four out of five details, which is quite enough to make some purchases.
Finally, knowing the card number gives you an additional advantage in more complex fraudulent schemes. For example, a criminal may call, introduce himself as a bank employee and gain your trust by reading out your card number. What happens next is a matter of technique. In recent years, scammers have developed dozens of schemes, and people not only in Russia, but also in other countries fall into these traps every day.
If you don't need to publish your card number on a social network page, don't do it. If such a need arises, publish it (this number alone will not give scammers access to money), but be extremely vigilant. Firstly, limit yourself to only 16 digits, and do not disclose other data under any circumstances. Secondly, find out the current phone number and email address of your bank. If the “bank representative” tries to contact you in a different way, these are criminals. In other words, share your card number only if you are sure that, if necessary, you can fight off scammers and not share other (much more important) details with them.
Half-truth
- https://journal.tinkoff.ru/card-wars/
- https://www.forbes.ru/finansy-i-investicii/405575-kak-moshenniki-kradut-dengi-s-vashih-bankovskih-kart-11-glavnyh-shem
- https://1prime.ru/finance/20201010/832141374.html
If you find a spelling or grammatical error, please let us know by highlighting the error text and clicking Ctrl+Enter.
