Cybercrime and cyber conflicts: Kazakhstan

Main article: Kazakhstan

2025

Cybercrime disclosures in Kazakhstan rise to 38.9%

In May 2025, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan announced a significant increase in the efficiency of law enforcement agencies in the field of countering cybercrime. According to official data from the department, the digital crime detection rate increased from 28.4% in 2024 to 38.9% in the first quarter of 2025.

In January-March 2025, 66 million fraudulent calls were prevented in Kazakhstan, which is 25% more than in 2024. Also, law enforcement agencies identified and blocked 14 thousand illegal sites used by cybercriminals to commit illegal actions.

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Фото: Freepik

Significant progress in the fight against cybercrime is associated with the creation of a specialized Department for Countering Cybercrime in the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which began to function in 2025. The new unit has concentrated its efforts on identifying, preventing and solving crimes committed using information technology.

In addition to countering cybercrime, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan is actively working in other areas of ensuring public safety. In particular, law enforcement agencies liquidated 69 drug laboratories, including 5 facilities specializing in the production of synthetic drugs.

As part of the fight against financial flows of the drug business, about 8 thousand accounts were blocked for a total of ₸850 million. These measures are aimed at undermining the economic basis of drug crime and reducing the availability of drugs.

In March 2025, amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses entered into force in Kazakhstan, establishing responsibility for non-medical drug use in private premises. Violators of this norm can be fined from 40 to 80 MCI, and in case of repeated violation, administrative arrest is provided for up to 20 days.^[1]

80% of Internet scams remain undisclosed in Kazakhstan

In January 2025, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at an expanded government meeting noted the insufficient efforts of the state to protect citizens from cyber fraudsters. According to him, total digitalization significantly simplifies the interaction of the state with citizens and business, minimizes bureaucracy and corruption risks. "Statistics show negative dynamics: over 20 thousand cases of Internet fraud are registered annually, of which about 80% remain unsolved," the president said.^[2]

2024

Crimes on the Internet account for 47% of fraud cases in Kazakhstan

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 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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Фото: 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.^[3]

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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Фото: 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.^[4]

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