A pensioner from Kirov was left without money due to a single click.

      The Kirov Region Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia received a statement from a 77-year-old resident of the regional center. The woman reported that she encountered an advertisement online promising work in the resource extraction industry. Intrigued, she called the contact number listed in the ad and, during the conversation, dictated her passport details to the interlocutor, who introduced herself as an employee of the company.

      However, to continue the "employment relationship," the fraudster required the conversation to be moved to another application. The woman received a link to install software. The resident of Kirov downloaded the file, started the installation, but the application's interface never opened. The pensioner did not pay attention to this, thinking it was a routine glitch.

      The outcome followed the next day. When she accessed her banking services, the woman discovered that a total of 15,000 rubles had been withdrawn from her plastic cards, opened in two different credit organizations. An important nuance: she had not made any transactions during this period. The bank quickly explained to her that the transfers had been made in her name to the account of a third-party organization, of which the woman is not a client.

      But the incident did not end with the withdrawals that had already occurred. On the same day, it became clear that unknown individuals had submitted an online application for a credit card with a limit of 45,000 rubles. Fortunately, the pensioner reacted in time — she contacted the bank's hotline and blocked this application until it was approved, thus preventing the formation of debt obligations.

      During the investigation, the police established the cause of what happened. The application installed via the link contained a malicious file. It was this file that provided the attackers access to the victim's accounts. Currently, investigators are working on these facts: criminal cases have been initiated for theft from a bank account, as well as for attempted fraud in the lending sector. Operational search activities are underway.

      The agency warns: this scheme is not new, but it is effective. The prohibition on installing software from unverified sources should become a habit. Fraudsters disguise malicious code as office messengers, bank add-ons, or work interfaces. The main rule is to download content only from official app stores or developers' websites. Ignore suspicious ads in search engine results and always verify links before clicking. Even if a file seems harmless, it may contain hidden threats leading to data leaks and budget loss. Antivirus checks and vigilance when downloading are basic protections that should not be neglected.