In Russia, scammers have started using a new scam scheme, offering “free” cosmetics to passersby in the name of Golden Apple perfume hypermarket. RIA Novosti reports this.
The attackers approached people on the street, introduced themselves as store employees, and offered to receive a select perfume as a gift for rating it in the app. After delivering the “gift” in a branded package, they demand a symbolic payment to their account or in cash, reducing the amount if refused but insisting on returning the goods in case of non-payment.
“If you refuse to transfer the money, the scammer offers to reduce the amount and then says that if you refuse to pay, the gift will have to be returned,” the message noted.
The most popular scams at the end of 2025 have been counted
On December 22, the head of the special services department of Infosecurity (Softline Group of Companies), Konstantin Melnikov, said that before the New Year, Russians make a lot of online purchases, which causes a sharp increase in the activity of fraudsters. One of the main threats during this period are fraudulent websites of online stores that supposedly sell goods of interest to a person. When a person pays for such a resource, the money goes to the attacker and the victim receives nothing.
Previously, Russians were warned about the dangers of card payments via Wi-Fi at New Year's fairs.
