The National Bank of the Republic of Tajikistan published a consumer warning urging heightened vigilance when using payment cards, mobile banking applications and online services, noting that fraudsters may impersonate staff of financial credit institutions, mobile operators or “support centers” to obtain confidential data. The alert reiterates that consumers should never share card and authentication details, including full card number and expiry date, CVV/CVC, PIN, one-time SMS/OTP codes, and banking app logins, passwords or secret words. It also advises against opening suspicious links or files received via messaging apps, installing applications or updates from anything other than official app stores, and granting remote access “to solve a problem”. Common scam pretexts cited include claims of blocked accounts, suspicious transactions, approved loans or benefits, card replacement requests, and urgent instructions to enter information on links that may lead to counterfeit websites; bank staff are stated as never requesting CVV/CVC, PIN or one-time codes. Recommended steps if fraud is suspected include promptly contacting the relevant financial credit institution to block the card or app, requesting checks and cancellation or return of transactions, changing app passwords, and revoking permissions for suspicious applications and checking the device.