Police warn of a new fraud scheme using SMS bombing

Kazakhstan's police warned about a new fraud scheme built on SMS bombing. The mechanics: an avalanche of messages from various services hits the victim's phone, the person gets flustered, and at that moment a supposed "security service" or "support" calls to help sort it out. Under the pretext of canceling subscriptions or protecting an account, the victim is talked out of SMS codes and access to banking apps.

The scheme banks on stress and time pressure: a person buried in notifications grabs at any "help". At risk are not only private individuals — a company's accountant or manager carries corporate banking, work email and client messengers on that same phone.

Businesses in Kazakhstan should turn this warning into a short team rule: a barrage of SMS is a signal not to panic but to be on guard; codes are never shared with anyone, not even a "bank" or "security"; any such call is cut off, and the organization is called back on its official number. Saying this at a stand-up takes five minutes — cheaper than investigating money gone from the company account.