PSYCHOLOGICAL METHODS OF FRAUD IN CYBERSPACE AND WAYS TO COUNTER THEM

The article examines the methods of social engineering used by attackers to gain unauthorized access to confidential information and manipulate the behavior of victims. The main types of attacks, such as phishing, vishing, smishing, pretexting, spear-phishing and whaling, as well as their features, implementation mechanisms and methods of deceiving users, are considered. Particular attention is paid to the psychological aspects of social engineering, including the influence of fear, trust, urgency, social proof and cognitive biases on the decision-making process. Modern approaches to protection against social engineering attacks are outlined, which include a combination of technological and educational methods. Measures are proposed to increase the digital literacy of users, develop information security policies, use multi-factor authentication, user behavior analysis systems and artificial intelligence to detect threats. Particular attention is paid to the use of large language models to identify fraudulent schemes and automate cybersecurity. The results of the study indicate the need for a comprehensive approach to protection against social engineering attacks, which involves syn