I have been hearing about scammers and how the number of internet fraud has soared recently. It is still a mystery to me how these scammers get numbers and personal details but that is a story for another time.
On this day I received a phone call, the person started with my full name, date of birth, email and my nationality. The person said I had to visit their office physically as soon as possible because I had not been filing my tax. He said this was very urgent and I needed to resolve my issues immediately.
I was initially scared because I really hate having issues with these immigration people. They will actually stress your life. He continued explaining that, for a few years now, I had not been filing my tax. I told him I was a student and I have never had to file tax.
Mind you, I understand Russian very well and even when a person is speaking very fast, I can still deduce what they’re saying and respond accordingly. Immediately I said I was a student and there was no law that required that I pay tax.
He started speaking really fast and saying a lot of incomprehensible things in Russian. I told him to repeat himself and he said things different from what I heard initially. It was at that time I became suspicious but I was already enjoying the whole thing ehn.
I told him that I cannot have this conversation on the phone and that he should give me their address. I said I will first ask the visa office in my school and then I will go there. He quickly responded by saying that I cannot just visit their office, that he needs to do запись, meaning like an appointment for me. I said, “Why do I need an appointment?
The guy answered I have to be attached to an inspector that will handle my case and I cannot just enter their office like that, and that after he makes the appointment for me, I will get a code I will use to enter at a terminal in their office.
As he was talking, the phone went off and he then called me with another number. Yes, a very persistent scammer like this. When he called back, he said he had my email addresses before him and he needed to confirm where he should send the email to, and that this email would confirm everything I need to know.
He was not lying. This man had two of my email addresses and he immediately sent a letter to one of them. Then the main part that made me start laughing was when he said that a direct message had been sent to me and I should dictate the code.
Hmm, it was clearly written in the message that this code should not be shared with a third party. I told him that this code is not meant to be shared with a third party. He said he was an official and what they mean by third party is family and friends. I first laughed ehn.
I was enjoying myself at this point and I could already sense he was getting impatient. I told him that there are a lot of scammers these days, that how does he expect me to believe him? The guy started saying that he also knows that there are a lot of scammers and it can be tricky but that this issue is different and very necessary because I could be fined or sued.
He was saying I should click on one of the links in the email and see for myself. In my mind I was like ‘see my money disappear abi? I know your ways scammer oshi.” I still wanted to push his button further and I insisted I cannot dictate the code or click any link.
He now said if I drop this call without telling him the code so that he can make an appointment that I should be ready to be fined a huge sum of money or be sued for evading my government duties.
I immediately told him that he is a scammer and a thief, asserting that he called me with a strange number, demanding that I click on a strange link and dictate codes to him. I told him to get out and never call this number again.
After the call, I checked the email and discovered it was carefully arranged nonsense. In fact the address there was different from the tax office in my city. The email had multiple links and just jumbled words together.
A person who doesn’t really know Russian might think it was official but it was definitely not. The SMS also looked very official, like something Gosuslugi would send to you. But I just knew it was part of their scheme. I appreciated the effort lol.
In short, some of these scams are tailored to foreigners. They know that you might not understand the language well and once threats on your status in their country or fines are mentioned, you might just give in.
Please and please, make sure you disengage immediately. Don’t dictate any code. And don’t confirm anything to anybody. May God help us.
Read our post about staying safe from scams here.
See another blog post about shipping woes as a foreigner in Russia.
Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s a great reminder of how persistent and clever scammers can be, and how important it is to stay vigilant.
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