A new scam scheme from OLX is spreading on Viber

Poll Rakuten Viber in January 2025 showed that 62% of Ukrainians have encountered cyber and telephone scams. About 40% of respondents said they are doing everything they can to learn more about cybersecurity. At the same time, attackers are constantly inventing new scenarios. Rakuten Viber talks about a scheme that has become popular in recent months: how it works and how not to become its victim.

What is the fraudulent scheme?

Criminals contact sellers via messengers, including Rakuten Viber, posing as buyers from OLX who have already paid for the goods. The scammers then send fake links asking them to follow them to receive money.

By clicking on such links, sellers are taken to fake websites that look like official platforms. There, they are asked to enter bank card details, passwords or other confidential information. Once this data is obtained, fraudsters can steal money or carry out unauthorized transactions on the user’s behalf.

We remind you that a similar fraudulent scheme was already spreading across the network in December 2024. At that time, attackers called or wrote, posing as well-known services, and asked to enter a code from SMS. This code was used to hack Viber accounts.

How to prevent fraud

Rakuten Viber notes that real payment and delivery of OLX occurs exclusively through the official website or application of the service. What features will help protect yourself from attackers:

• Restrict messages and calls from unknown contacts. You can do this in the Settings → Privacy → Message requests menu. When receiving a request from an unknown contact, the user can immediately delete, block, or report the message.
• Turn on automatic spam checking. This feature will help filter out unwanted messages. To do this, select Settings → Privacy → Automatic Spam Check.
• Activate the Caller ID feature. It marks calls from unknown numbers as potentially safe or dangerous due to spam or fraud. Over 3 million Ukrainians have already activated the feature. To enable the feature, go to Settings → Calls & Messages → Caller ID (for Android).

Rakuten Viber reminds you: never give out your personal data, including passwords, bank card details, documents or simply SMS codes, to anyone. Be especially careful with unfamiliar contacts and sites. And the above-mentioned features will help you to additionally protect yourself from scammers.