A Kirov resident lost almost 400 thousand rubles due to a call about replacing meters.

      A statement was received by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Kirov region from a 54-year-old man. He became a victim of a multi-step scheme in which criminals used several legends at once. The first point of entry was a call on a messenger. The caller introduced himself as an employee of the Water Utility and spoke about the need to replace water metering devices. To "process the application," the Kirov resident was asked to dictate a code that had arrived in an SMS message. The man complied with the request, effectively giving outsiders access to his personal account on the "Gosuslugi" portal. However, contact with the victim did not stop there. The next interlocutors on the phone introduced themselves as employees of Roskomnadzor and Rosfinmonitoring. They informed him that his account had been hacked and began to apply emotional pressure—talking about criminal liability. Under this psychological pressure, the man transferred 79,000 rubles that he had with him, and then took out a loan and gave the scammers another 300,000. Only after all the transfers did the Kirov resident realize that he had been deceived and contacted the police. A criminal case has been initiated on this fact. The agency emphasizes a key point: the code from the SMS is not just numbers, but an analogue of an electronic signature. Whoever you give it to receives keys to your personal data, bank accounts, and digital documents. Employees of the "Gosuslugi" portal do not call and do not request such codes. If it concerns replacing a meter, it is safer to end the incoming call and call the management company back at the number indicated in the payment documents. The police ask Kirov residents to convey this information to elderly relatives: they are often the targets of manipulations with threats of criminal prosecution. In any doubts—immediately end the conversation and verify the information through official channels.