New Scam in Armenia Impersonates NSS and Acquaintances

Media expert Samvel Martirosyan warns about new, targeted attacks. The focus is on representatives of civil society and the media. Martirosyan described the attack mechanism step by step:

A duplicate of a person close to you, someone you trust, contacts you via a fake WhatsApp or Viber account. They are well-prepared. They say that the National Security Service (NSS) has discovered a serious problem, but that your acquaintance has vouched for you. You simply need to cooperate, and an NSS employee with a specific name will contact you.

The fake employee calls, speaking in Russian. They claim that millions of dollars have been transferred to your account from Azerbaijan. When asked why they are speaking Russian, they say it's a joint operation with Azerbaijan and the materials will also be used in court there.

Then, they involve the Central Bank (CB), saying that you need to withdraw your money from the bank and send it to a new account so that it doesn't get mixed up with the "bad money," and similar things. As you can understand, the money will be gone.

Interesting facts:

In the cases I know of, representatives of civil society and the press were targeted. However, the targeting may be broader.

They prepare very well, studying people's connections.

It should be recalled that today the CB warned that viral emails might be distributed in its name. "The letters are viral and fake. The CB urges not to open the attached files." The Central Bank informs that phishing emails are being sent on behalf of the CB from a number of fake addresses, including [email protected]. Files are attached to the letters. "We inform you that the mentioned letters are viral and fake. We urge you to: not open the attached files; not click on the links in the letter; immediately delete such letters."