Similar cases of fake voice messages were described in 2019, but then the attackers used audio editing to create them.

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"The scheme is dangerous because the fraudsters use several factors to identify the victim - an account, a voice, and a bank card. In order not to lose money, it is necessary to double-check whether the account owner is really making such a request, for example, by calling him back on the phone," Yegorov concluded.

Diana Selekhina, an exper germany whatsapp number database t at the Solar AURA External Digital Threat Monitoring Center of the Solar Group, noted that the company is registering a wave of new cases of fraud related to the theft of personal accounts in Telegram. Over the past 30 days, according to her, the company has identified more than 500 new domain names that sound similar to the name of the messenger. Selekhina also recalled that, in addition to fake votes, a fraudulent scheme for obtaining a Premium subscription was actively distributed in Telegram. "All these schemes have in common the need to enter your phone number and SMS code. The data obtained is then used by attackers for unauthorized access to the account and subsequent spam or extortion of money," she explained.

Some people, according to Selekhina, remain vigilant, including thanks to constant warnings about such scams, so the attackers have improved their schemes, started using neural networks and fragments of old voice messages to convince the victim that they are communicating with a real acquaintance. "We have encountered cases of using deepfakes (an image or voice synthesis technique based on artificial intelligence. - RBC), exploiting the images of famous people to advertise fraudulent resources, and now this technique is gradually being introduced into Telegram, often in combination with voice messages," the expert said.

Irina Zinovkina, head of the Positive Technologies research group, noted that the above-mentioned method, like others that have appeared recently, are more advanced social engineering techniques. At the same time, this form may not always be effective for several reasons, since not all users use voice messages, and it is not always possible to glue together the necessary phrase from the material that is already there.