Cybercrime and cyber conflicts: Kazakhstan

Main article: Kazakhstan

2024

Online Fraud Detection - 20%

In Kazakhstan, in 2024, only 20% of cases of Internet fraud were disclosed, as reported by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Saken Sarsenov at a meeting in the Senate on October 31, 2024. In total, since the beginning of 2024, 15,905 criminal cases related to Internet fraud have been registered in the country, of which only 3,286 have been disclosed. This became known at a meeting, where measures to strengthen counteraction to such crimes were also discussed.

The total amount of funds returned to the victims in 2024 amounted to ₸1 billion 400 million (about 278 million rubles). Internet fraud continues to grow and currently accounts for 47% of all types of fraud in Kazakhstan. In order to strengthen the fight against this problem, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the National Bank and second-level banks, created an anti-fraud center in the financial sector. Thanks to his activities, it became possible to instantly block suspicious transactions in second-level banks. Since the beginning of 2024, more than 5,000 incidents have been blocked, and 835 droppers have been blacklisted, with more than ₸300 million blocked in their accounts.

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Freepik

Deputy Interior Minister Saken Sarsenov also stressed that a significant number of fraudulent calls and messages come from abroad. There is data on specialized call centers that work exclusively on the territory of Kazakhstan. This complicates the fight against such crimes, as criminals use various methods to conceal their activities, including international communication channels.

Saken Sarsenov noted that the issue of countering Internet fraud requires close cooperation with financial institutions and international partners. The creation of an anti-fraud center was an important step towards reducing crime in this area, however, current detection rates remain at a low level.^[1]

Kazakhstanis affected by cyber fraudsters compensated for damage of 1 billion tenge

Kazakhstanis who suffered from cyber fraud managed to return almost ₸1 billion. This information was announced in September 2024 at a meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Prevention of Offenses, which was held by Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov.

According to Zakon.kz, during the meeting, measures were considered to combat Internet fraud and financial pyramids, which pose a significant threat to the financial security of citizens.

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Unsplash

During the meeting, Interior Minister Yerzhan Sadenov said that as a result of the work of the Cyberpol group, it was possible to solve more than 2.5 thousand cybercrimes and compensate for damage in the amount of ₸962 million. During operations to combat fraudsters, 914 attackers were detained, 58 million calls from replacement numbers were blocked and over 6 thousand unregistered SIM cards were seized. As part of the work of the anti-fraud center, ₸400 million were blocked at the stage of withdrawal of funds abroad.

Dmitry Malakhov, Chairman of the Financial Monitoring Agency, noted that 2024 financial pyramids were identified on the Internet 43 year and 266 chats were closed in messengers where illegal operations were carried out. With the help of the Cybernadzor system, more than 8 thousand fraudulent sites were blocked, and Kazakhstanis were offered to use a special bot in the Telegram messenger to check companies and sites for signs of financial pyramids. With its help, over 9 thousand applications were submitted.

Since the beginning of 2024, measures to block international calls from replacement numbers have helped reduce the level of telephone fraud and stop numerous attempts to withdraw funds. Fraudsters actively used phishing, vishing and mixing to gain access to citizens' bank accounts, as well as skimmers to steal data from cards.^[2]

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