Victims of phone scammers

Main article: Telephone fraud

2024

Telephone scammers who called on behalf of the FSB and the Central Bank lured ₽146 million from a Muscovite

Fraudsters who introduced themselves as employees of the FSB and the Central Bank stole funds from an 83-year-old resident of Moscow totaling ₽146 million, the victim reported the incident to law enforcement agencies. This became known in mid-December 2024.

According to the telegram channel Baza, the attackers called the pensioner in early December 2024. An unknown person, who called himself an FSB officer, informed the woman about the alleged impending transfer of money from her accounts to finance illegal groups and offered cooperation with the investigation.

Telephone scammers lured ₽146 million from a Muscovite

For eight days, an elderly woman withdrew funds from her deposits and her husband's accounts, after which she transferred them to unknown persons in the courtyard of her own house. For conspiracy, the attackers set the password "Winter" when transferring money.

The victim realized that she had become a victim of deception only after leaving for a summer cottage in the Moscow region. After that, the woman turned to law enforcement agencies with a statement about the crime committed against her.

On this fact, the investigating authorities began an inspection. This crime is included in the category of especially grave due to the large size of the stolen funds. For such crimes, Russian legislation provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to ten years.

Law enforcement agencies regularly warn citizens about such fraud schemes and remind that state officials never call citizens demanding to transfer money or transfer it to unknown persons. When such calls are received, it is recommended to immediately stop the conversation and contact the police.^[1]

The head of the economic security department of the cancer center in Moscow gave telephone fraudsters ₽85 million

The head of the economic security department of the Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology fell victim to telephone fraudsters, transferring ₽84,6 million to them. The crime committed between October and November 2024 became known on November 26, 2024. Read more here.

Ex-financier of the Voronezh project institution handed over ₽24,35 million to telephone fraudsters

On November 15, 2024, it became known that the former 67-year-old financier of one of the engineering companies in the Voronezh region became a victim of telephone fraud, losing ₽24,35 million. This was reported by the press service of the GU MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Russia in the region. A criminal case has been opened on the fact of the incident. More. here

Ex-adviser to the President of Bashkiria transferred more than ₽5 million to telephone scammers after the FSB call

Former adviser to the President of Bashkiria and ex-deputy of the State Assembly - Kurultay of the Republic Viktor Pchelintsev became a victim of telephone fraudsters, transferring ₽5,2 million to attackers. The incident took place in Ufa. This became known at the end of October 2024. Read more here.

Fraudsters lured ₽100 thousand from State Duma deputy Mikhail Kislyakov, threatening to publish correspondence from a dating site

Fraudsters lured ₽100 thousand from the deputy of the State Duma of Russia Mikhail Kislyakov, threatening to publish his correspondence from the dating site. The official reported the incident to the police after the extortion attempts continued. This became known on October 29, 2024. Read more here

Telephone scammers stole ₽5 million from the famous artist Alexander Yulikov, using deepfake and the theme of neo-Nazism

In early October 2024, it became known that telephone scammers stole more than ₽5 million from the famous artist Alexander Yulikov using deepfake technology and the theme of neo-Nazism. The incident occurred in September 2024. Read more here

How telephone scammers lured 2.7 million rubles from the former press secretary of the Moscow Puppet Theater. Obraztsov

The former press secretary of the Obraztsov Moscow Puppet Theater became a victim of telephone fraud, losing ₽2,7 million. This became known in September 2024. The criminals, posing as the director of the theater and FSB officers, deceived the woman and received a large sum of money. The incident occurred within a few days, when the victim was at a dacha in the Moscow region. Read more here

Larisa Dolina sold a 5-room apartment and gave 180 million rubles to fraudsters

In mid-August 2024, it became known that the Soviet and Russian pop singer, actress, People's Artist of the Russian Federation Larisa Dolina became a victim of fraudsters. She sold her apartment in Moscow and gave the attackers savings totaling about 180 million rubles. Read more here

Telephone scammers lured 29 million rubles from the teacher of the PRUE im. Plekhanov

In early August 2024, it became known that the English teacher of the Russian University of Economics named after G.V. Plekhanov (REU) transferred 29 million rubles to fraudsters. Cybercriminals deceived a woman using a scheme with the head of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDC, a terrorist organization banned in Russia). Read more here.

The star of the series "Soldiers" gave phone scammers all the savings

On June 11, 2024, it became known that actor Mikhail Gorsky, known for his role in the popular TV series Soldiers, was the victim of telephone scammers who convinced him to transfer all his savings to a "safe" account. This was announced by the Telegram channel "Baza." Read more here.

Petersburg physicist gave telephone fraudsters 1.9 million rubles for "registration of patents" in "Russian Wikipedia"

On June 9, 2024, it became known that in St. Petersburg, a famous physicist became a victim of telephone fraudsters. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yevgeny Alexandrov transferred 1.9 million rubles to the attackers, which they allegedly requested to register his patents in the Russian Wikipedia program. Read more here.

Telephone scammers lured 6.5 million rubles from the ex-deputy governor of the Smolensk region, who was responsible for information security

In early June 2024, it became known that the ex-deputy governor of the Smolensk region, Nikolay Kuznetsov, had become a victim of telephone fraudsters. The attackers managed to lure 6.5 million rubles from him. Read more here.

Telephone scammers convinced the ex-general director of the CSKA handball club that he broke the site with prostitutes, and lured 330 thousand rubles from him

On May 28, 2024, it became known that the former general director of the CSKA handball club Anatoly Volosov was a victim of telephone scammers. The attackers lured 330 thousand rubles from him under the pretext that he broke the site with prostitutes. Read more here.

The first deputy chairman of the State Council of Crimea transferred 45 million rubles to telephone fraudsters who introduced themselves as employees of the Central Bank

First Deputy Chairman of the State Council of Crimea Efim Fix transferred 45 million rubles to telephone fraudsters who introduced themselves as employees of the Bank of Russia and law enforcement agencies. This became known in May 2024. Read more here.

Opera singer Liubov Kazarnovskaya gave telephone scammers 895 thousand rubles

On February 15, 2024, it became known about telephone fraud, from which the famous opera singer Liubov Kazarnovskaya suffered. Swindlers lured 895 thousand rubles from her. Read more here.

Fraudsters informed the wife of the ex-governor of the Moscow region about hacking her account on Public services and lured her 2 million rubles

The wife of the former governor of the Moscow region Boris Gromov Faina became a victim of telephone scammers. This became known on January 26, 2024. Read more here.

2023

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation told who most often suffers from cyber fraudsters

In February 2024, the Bank of Russia told who most often suffers from cyber fraudsters. The study was conducted in November 2023. More than 395 thousand people took part in it. People were asked questions about whether they were satisfied with the security of banking services and services, what types of cyber fraud they encountered, and how aware they were of the rules of safe financial behavior.

According to the regulator, in 2023, the victim of fraudsters most often became:

• woman
• between the ages of 25 and 44
• middle-income
• with secondary education
• having a permanent job.

According to the materials of the Central Bank, in 2023 the share of women among victims of intruders was 11 percentage points higher than men and amounted to 55.5%. In 2022, the opposite situation was observed, although the advantage towards men was small (0.8%).

The age of the main part of the victims is from 25 to 64 years. At the age of 20-24, 8.3% faced fraudsters, at the age of 25-44 - 37.8%, 45-64 years old - 28.4%, from 65 years old - 15.4%.

Among the respondents, 25.9% have higher education, 41.3% have secondary education, and 32.8% have general education. The level of wealth among victims of cyber fraudsters is most often average (44.8%), low and high - in 27.8% and 27.4%, respectively.

The Central Bank's study also says that 64.1% of those affected by the actions of attackers in 2023 lost less than 20 thousand rubles, 17.9% of victims lost from 10 thousand to 100 thousand rubles, 9.9% missed from 100 thousand to 500 thousand rubles, and 4.3% of victims fraudsters stole more than 1 million rubles.

In addition, the Central Bank noted that 87.6% of respondents, when interacting with attackers, did not succumb to their tricks and did not commit any actions.^[2]

Professor of Krasnoyarsk Medical University gave telephone fraudsters 8.7 million rubles

Professor of the Krasnoyarsk Medical University (KrasGMU) became a victim of swindlers. On September 9, 2023, the press service of the regional prosecutor's office was told about how this happened. Read more here.

Telephone scammers have stolen 11 apartments and 156 million rubles from Moscow pensioners since the beginning of the year

Since the beginning of 2023, telephone scammers have stolen 11 apartments and 156 million rubles from Moscow pensioners. This was announced on August 24, 2023 by the metropolitan prosecutor's office in its Telegram channel.

As noted in the department, the swindlers misled the residents of the capital, assuring that they were suppressing criminal actions against real estate. At the same time, the age of the victims ranged from 63 to 84 years.

Crimes were committed according to the same scheme: a call from the "bank" or from "law enforcement officers" with a proposal to transfer the amounts in the accounts to "safe" accounts. Then the scammers reported that criminal acts were being committed against real estate and cars and they needed to be sold urgently. The victims transferred the funds from the sale and personal savings to "safe accounts," the Moscow prosecutor's office said in a statement.

So, an 84-year-old pensioner was called by a "bank employee" and said that he, together with law enforcement agencies, was trying to catch fraudsters. To do this, you need to withdraw all savings and transfer to a "safe account." The pensioner tied the attackers' bank card to his mobile application, after which he and his wife cashed out all savings and transferred it to a "safe account." After making transactions at the direction of "false banker," the card was removed from the application. At the same time, the attackers asked the pensioner to be in touch with them, forbade interrupting the conversation while in the bank and answering anyone's questions.

Then the scammers reported that someone was committing illegal actions with a three-room apartment on Mozhaisk highway and it was urgently necessary to sell it. The caller said that the deal is fictitious, the money will be returned, and they will find the buyers themselves, pensioners only need to collect all the documents for the deal. Then two men came to the apartment, took photos, and later brought buyers and accompanied the deal. In a similar way, the attackers forced the spouses to lay down the car. As a result, more than 20 million rubles became the prey of fraudsters.^[3]

The entire team of an agricultural enterprise in Irkutsk sent 3 million rubles to fraudsters

In May 2023, it became known that telephone scammers "shooed" the entire team of an agricultural enterprise  in Irkutsk. First, they called the 38-year-old manager and convinced her to take out a loan, and then transfer all the money to a "safe account." The woman turned  to her colleague for help, and they went to the bank together. On the way to the bank, the fraudster "processed" a colleague.

After that, the attacker assured the women that  the rest of the employees could lose money. Irkutsk women returned to their workplace and everyone was told the alarming news, after which the whole team went to the bank to take loans and transfer money to fraudsters. Together they gave the fraudsters more than 3 million rubles.

In Moscow, Ukrainian fraudsters drove a pensioner to suicide

They persuaded him to take out a loan and re-register the apartment. They contacted 61-year-old Igor Yuryevich. The man was forced to take a loan of 3.5 million rubles in order to invest this money in the International Monetary Fund, Baza wrote in May 2023. The pensioner fell for a trick and issued a loan, but the fraudsters' tricks did not end there - unknown persons began to persuade the pensioner to re-register the apartment.

On the evening of May 16, 2023, a man sent a strange SMS to his wife: "Call the police at home, sorry, give up your apartment. Then they will close the loan. " The woman immediately called the police and went to Igor's outfit, but law enforcement officers did not have time. The pensioner's apartment was not locked, the man's body was found in the bathroom.

Directors of the flight control center of Rossiya Airlines deceived 12 million rubles

According to Shot in May 2023, 58-year-old Andrei Peret was at home when an unknown person called him and introduced himself as a police captain. A voice on the tube reported that there have been many cases of fraud recently. And Andrei has money in his accounts, so he will be recruited from the Central Bank and told how to protect himself.

Further, the classic scheme: a girl called Andrei and said that applications for loans as much as 12 million rubles were submitted on his behalf. You can only save yourself in the only way: take these loans on your own and transfer money to "safe accounts." Peret did everything he was told to do.

Associate Professor MPEI robbed of 2.1 million rubles

A new victim of telephone scammers was a 61-year-old associate professor at the Moscow Energy Institute. During the class, his colleague entered the audience and said that soon the deputy head of their profile ministry would call the assistant professor himself.

At the end of the lecture, an unknown person really called the man in the "cart," introduced himself as an official, said that now FSB officers would contact him, and ordered them to strictly comply with all their requirements. The disgraced teacher believed that he was communicating with a man from the ministry, and then successfully went to the classic scheme with calls from "special services and the Central Bank," who advised to hide all the savings from "persons financing terrorism to a safe account."

The man removed all his savings and, as the curators ordered, threw them through an ATM onto the card of the very colleague who accompanied him on alarming "adventures." As soon as this happened, the card was blocked. As a result, the teacher lost 2.1 million rubles. Now the police are looking for fraudsters, and also find out whether the teacher's colleague turned out to be an accomplice or became a victim of deceivers himself, writes Shot.

Ukrainian fraudsters robbed the head of the Sukhoi UAC brigade of 3.6 million rubles

Ukrainian fraudsters robbed the head of the brigade from the UAC Sukhoy"" Larin. A messenger from the alleged "Central Bank" came to him - an ordinary guy of about 25 years old in a hood, jeans and a jacket. He uttered the cherished "Hugo," received several packs of money and hastily went to "save" them.

After that, an employee of the Sukhoi UAC transferred another 500 thousand to the "reserve" account, but a few days later, when the man stopped transferring money (they simply ended), his interlocutors suddenly disappeared. It was then that Larin realized that he gave the unknown a total of 3.6 million rubles.

In Istra, a pensioner named Lopukh gave 800,000 rubles to fraudsters

According to Shot, an 85-year-old man received a call from an unknown person from several numbers - he introduced himself as an employee of the Investigative Committee, the police and the FSB and said that his grandfather's accounts would be arrested due to the actions of fraudsters. To protect savings, you need to transfer everything to another personal account - cash out and transfer it to the courier with the code word "Love."

On the appointed day and hour, the pensioner reached Moscow, cashed out the money and handed over the savings to the courier - a young dark-haired guy in a gray jacket, after which he began to wait for an SMS notification. The money did not arrive at the new account, so the gullible grandfather had to contact the police.

The Ukrainian swindlers persuaded the graduate student to set fire Historico-literary to the museum of the city of Pushkina

Ukrainian scammers persuaded graduate student Alexei Gribanov from St. Petersburg to set fire to the Historical and Literary Museum of the city of Pushkin. According to him, he thought that he was performing the task of the FSB and would avoid a fraudulent loan.

The Pushkin District Court of St. Petersburg in April 2023 arrested Gribanov for two months on charges of hooliganism for political reasons.

According to investigators, Gribanov doused the building with combustible liquid and set it on fire. He did this, according to the press service, with "unidentified accomplices." The man was detained near the site of the arson.

According to Fontanka, Gribanov is 25 years old and a graduate student at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. During interrogation, Gribanov said that unknown persons asked him to set fire to the building by phone, promising to prevent the criminals who allegedly issued a loan for Gribanov.

At first, the callers persuaded him to set fire to the military commissar's military registration and enlistment office and car, but Gribanov refused.

During the arrest, Gribanov managed to shout a "Ukrainian patriotic greeting" and expected that after that the FSB officers would congratulate him on the successful completion of the task.

In early April, a pensioner was detained in Sverdlovsk Pervouralsk under similar circumstances, who was trying to set fire to the military registration and enlistment office. According to her, she thought that she was participating in a "classified operation against terrorists" at the request of the FSB. There were 16 similar stories in Russia.

Almost 45 million were stolen from the former first deputy chief of staff of the State Duma

In April 2023, it became known that fraudsters lured almost 45 million rubles from the former first deputy chief of staff of the State Duma in 4 months, writes 112. A man who introduced himself as an employee of the Central Bank called a former official on WhatsApp. He said that the account of 78-year-old Yuri Alekseevich mistakenly received money that must be returned. Bezverkhov agreed and revealed to the scammers personal data and confirmation codes from SMS messages.

In several tranches, from November 2022 to March 2023, the criminals transferred money from the victim's accounts in two banks. The ex-official did not even notice this - he was at the dacha, then he was in the hospital. The man only found out that the savings were missing when he was in the bank.

The director of "Good night, kids!" Kirill Baryshnikov stole 1.7 million rubles

The director of "Good night, kids!" Kirill Baryshnikov was stolen 1.7 million rubles, writes Baza in April 2023. Fraudsters pretended to be employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and convinced him to transfer money in order to protect them from a loan issued for him. The director realized that he was deceived only three days later.

An official from the Moscow region was deceived by fraudsters on behalf of the governor and the government, who offered to take the post of her boss for 2.5 million rubles

38-year-old Tatyana works as deputy chairman of the Forestry Committee of the Moscow Region. When the official was on vacation in 2023, she received an SMS on behalf of the assistant to one of the deputy chairmen of the Russian government with a request to call back. The sequel is here.

Muscovite deceived by 11 million rubles

To Moscow In Olga WhatsApp , an investigator called, and then an employee of the Central Bank. They told the woman about a big leak from banks and scared her by zeroing her accounts. They convinced her to transfer about 1,000,000 to the rubles map and mortgage the Mazda car in a pawnshop.

Soon Olga received a call from a certain Igor Doinikov from the "Moscow UK" - he warned about fraudsters trying to take away her apartment, and convinced her to recruit microloans with debts of 1.1 million rubles and their woman also sent to the "investigator."

Doinikov asked to issue an urgent purchase of an apartment for 9 million. Then Olga was disturbed by a call from a stranger. She bitterly announced the death of Doinikov during execution and for the sake of safety asked to urgently burn the phone, two laptops, a TV and even a slow cooker, filming it.

Olga really made a whole fire on her balcony and recorded a video thanking the "employees" for preserving her property. At the same time, in the video she had to thank Pannochka, A.B Uebok and Igor and send everyone greetings from the mammoth, which the woman did. Its losses amounted to 11.7 million.

Directors of the Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation deceived 3.8 million rubles

In March 2023, it became known that 60-year-old Vladimir Shtop, who heads the administrative department in the Ministry of Finance, received a call from an unknown number. The man introduced himself as "an employee of VTB Artyom Naumenko" and said that someone, using the official's power of attorney, is right now trying to get a loan in his name. We need to urgently transfer money to a secure account.

Shtop went to GUM on Red Square to an ATM and withdrew 3.8 million rubles in different branches, transferred them to three unknown cards through the terminal and only then realized that he had become a victim of fraudsters. The police are checking, writes Shot.

Fraudsters stole 3 million rubles from a famous mathematician with the help of a fake signature Nabiullina

In March 2023, it became known. That 92-year-old Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation Konstantin Brushlinsky telephone swindlers introduced themselves as investigators and reported suspicious operations on his card, which were allegedly promptly canceled by the Central Bank.

To further convince the pensioner, the scammers the next day sent a courier to him with forged documents, certified by seals and the signature of the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina. Then the attackers lured 3 million rubles from the famous scientist within two weeks.

Ex-Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation deceived almost two million rubles

Until 2001, Nikolai Mikhailov served as First Deputy Minister of Defense of the PF, and after leaving the service, he joined the board of directors of AFK Sistema. On March 16, 2023, Mikhailov allegedly received a call from VTB Bank's security service on Whatsapp and said that an unidentified person had changed his phone number in the system.

Under the strict control of the fraudsters, Mikhailov went to the bank branch, withdrew 1.9 million rubles and transferred them to a specially issued reserve account, writes Baza.

The senior inspector of the Academy of the Ministry of Emergency Situations took loans and transferred 1.3 million to fraudsters

31-year-old Artyom, a senior inspector from the Academy of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, received a call at the end of January 2023. A "Central Bank employee" at the other end of the tube stunned the sniffer by the fact that several transactions allegedly passed from his account, and the money went to support the troops of Ukraine. Worse still, the same thing happened to his wife, and now the couple faces a criminal case and a long prison term.

After the "Central Bank officer" Artyom received a call from an "FSB officer" and persuaded the man to take out several loans and install a remote access program on his phone. In a few days, the inspector transferred 1,300,000 rubles to the criminals. Only after, when the "Fsbshniki and bankers" began to persuade Artyom to take a new loan in order to avoid a criminal case, he guessed everything and went to the police, writes Baza in February 2023.

A Muscovite stole a Bulgari bracelet for 500 thousand rubles, forging a friend's voice on the phone

At the end of January 2023, it became known that fraudsters, using advanced digital technologies, were able to steal a Bulgari bracelet worth half a million rubles from a student from Moscow.

It is reported that 23-year-old Stanislav ordered a decoration with natural diamonds from Dubai, paying 430 thousand rubles for it. But for some reason, the girl did not wear the bracelet and decided to put it up for sale on the ad site for 500 thousand rubles. She was contacted by a buyer who said that he was ready to purchase the product. Following the negotiations, the man sent his driver to buy, promising to transfer money to a bank card.

When the car drove up to the agreed place, the buyer said that there were errors when transferring funds and offered to send money to the card of a friend of Stanislav. The girl agreed, warned her friend and gave her phone number to the man. Soon after, an acquaintance called Stanislava back, saying that the money had arrived. The girl gave the bracelet, and an hour later it turned out that the transfer had not been made.

In this deception scheme, attackers used two IT technologies at once. One of them is the substitution of a mobile number: the call received by Stanislav looked like it was really made from a friend's phone. In addition, fraudsters used a system for imitating someone else's voice like the Microsoft VALL-E neural network-based tool. This is exactly what misled the girl. Apparently, the attackers managed to obtain samples of the voice of Stanislav's friend during negotiations on the issue of the bank card number for the transfer of funds. Experts have repeatedly warned that artificial intelligence-based algorithms to simulate voice could become weapons in the hands of intruders. For example, VALL-E is able to recreate a person's voice based on a speech sample lasting only three seconds.^[4]

2022

Fraudsters convinced a pensioner to sell an apartment and give them almost 14 million rubles

At the very end of November 2022, a 77-year-old resident of Mitino, Vyacheslav Nikolaevich, received a call from a man who introduced himself as an employee of the Central Bank. He said that fraudsters were encroaching on his account with savings and convinced them to transfer them to other details in order to save funds. So the pensioner lost 690,000 rubles. A few days later, the grandfather was contacted allegedly by a police colonel and said that the scammers had sold his apartment. Then he was recruited by a "lawyer of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation" and explained that the apartment needs to be sold in order to buy it back with the proceeds.

The pensioner signed the documents on the sale, withdrew the money and sent them to fraudsters. So on the very New Year, an elderly Muscovite was left without housing.

Fraudsters deceived a pensioner three times and received more than one and a half million rubles of her mobilized son

The head of the police of the Northern District of Moscow arranged a distribution of subordinates because of the pensioner. Fraudsters deceived her three times and received more than one and a half million rubles of her mobilized son writes Baza. They want to punish a policeman for this - because he allegedly poorly explained to the woman the methods of criminals.

The first time 72-year-old Nadezhda Salvarovna from Moscow called in May. Then an unknown person introduced himself as a law enforcement officer and convincingly asked to translate 20 thousand. The woman did so, and then realized that she was deceived, and turned to the police - they accepted the statement and recommended that no one else send money. However, the story repeated itself in mid-December, when a certain "security officer" of the bank called Nadezhda Salvarovna and offered to download a special application to protect money on his phone. At the same time, Nadezhda Salvarovna decided to protect the savings and mobilized son, installing the program on his phone.

As a result, the woman discovered that 197 thousand rubles had disappeared from the man's account. Soon the police accepted the second statement from the pensioner and again gave her a lecture about the fraudsters. But Nadezhda Salvarovna still continued to communicate with the criminals, sending them another one and a half million of her son by the end of December.

Her case was separately raised at the meeting, after which the police chief arranged for the subordinates to be sent off, they say, how you work with the victims. In January 2023, employees are looking not only for fraudsters, but also for someone to blame for their ranks.

A resident of the Moscow region gave fraudsters almost a million rubles for fear that her money "will be transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine"

40-year-old Tatiana often called from unfamiliar numbers. The woman usually did not pick up the phone, but on December 20, 2022 she decided to answer. The caller introduced himself as an employee of the internal affairs bodies. He said that they were trying to get through to Tatiana on an important matter, but for some reason she did not answer - and easily got into trust.

"Silovik" said that Tatiana is in danger. Like, some scammers got access to her accounts and want to steal her savings in order to transfer them to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And this, according to current laws, pulls on a criminal case. To prevent the criminals, the woman needed to take out a loan and send money to a "safe" account.

So she did - she sent 885 thousand rubles to the scammers. Interestingly, they bothered Tatyana to buy a push-button phone so that she would keep in touch with them and "not be distracted by the Internet." In addition, the scammers asked to send her photos of five thousandth bills in order to remove them from the marked register, writes Baza.

A man from Severodvinsk lost 9 million rubles while trying to make money on cryptocurrency

He received a call from a "bank employee" and offered to make money on cryptocurrency. The man registered on the crypto platform, transferred 9 million rubles, which he borrowed from banks and friends. Then in December 2022, the platform "failed," all financial transactions disappeared from the personal account, and the "managers" stopped communicating.

In Moscow, fraudsters deceived a pensioner for 700 thousand rubles, promising her help from Alexei Miller and Mikhail Mishustin

In mid-November 2022, an elderly resident of Moscow played a game on her mobile phone and caught her eye with an advertisement promising financial assistance to pensioners from people such as Gazprom head Alexei Miller and Prime Minister Mishustin. The woman followed the link and left her full name and phone number.

Ten minutes later, the first fraudster called her. He promised to give it to a "good state analyst" who would make it rich. A 15 minutes later, the "analyst" himself contacted her, who convinced her to transfer 15 thousand rubles to Qiwi to begin with, writes Baza. Ten days later, the same man called the pensioner and said that things were going well. To make them even better, he convinced her to "replenish the brokerage account."

The woman went to the bank and transferred her savings in the amount of 370 thousand rubles to the specified details through an ATM. Five days later, the same "analyst" again recruited a pensioner and persuaded him to take out a loan for another 300 thousand rubles.

Deception of a HSE teacher for 2 million rubles

Mikhail Karpov, a teacher at the Higher School of Economics, fell for the classical scheme of deception. On October 29, 2022, he received a wake-up call - a "Central Bank employee" wanted to talk to Karpov. He explained to the teacher that his money was at risk, so it should be sent to a secure account.

Fraudsters called Karpov from different numbers, posing as employees of different departments. In the end, they were able to separate the man in the amount of 2 million rubles. Karpov collected cash and handed it over to a courier near one of the houses on Nizhny Novgorod Street and only then realized that fraudsters had taken possession of his money, writes Baza.

The collector of Sberbank transferred 21 million rubles to telephone fraudsters

In September 2022, it became known that Sberbank collector Sergei Chesnokov gave 21 million rubles to telephone fraudsters, believing that he was being called from the Bank of Russia.

During a telephone conversation, the collector driver was convinced that he urgently needed to violate the protocol and transfer the money to the indicated accounts. Chesnokov transferred 21 million rubles to unknown persons.

The collector's version was not believed: he was detained, a theft case was opened. And a few days later, the words of the collector were confirmed, the swindlers were calculated: under the guise of the Central Bank, 19-year-old Ayrat Karimullin from Kazan and 20-year-old Irina Dick with a friend Gleb Prokinverda from Omsk acted. A fraud case has been opened.

Fraudsters from the "security service of the Central Bank" convinced a scientist of the Russian Academy of Sciences to give them 30 million rubles

A researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences became a victim of fraudsters who introduced themselves as specialists of the "security service of the Central Bank." This became known on September 5, 2022.

As a source in the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow told RBC, a 64-year-old man, a researcher at the Federal State Budgetary Institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences, contacted the police department in the North Butovo district, who said that an unknown person called his mobile number, who introduced himself as an employee of the security service of the Central Bank of Russia. They called under the pretext of suppressing unauthorized write-off of funds. " Fraudsters convinced the man to pick up $200 thousand, €200 thousand and 30 million rubles from a bank cell located in the central office of Sberbank on Vavilov Street.

Realizing that he had become a victim of fraudsters, the man turned to the police. A criminal case was initiated on the fact of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code, the maximum punishment is up to 10 years in prison).

This is far from the first case of major fraud, when the victim is allegedly called from the Bank of Russia. In early September 2022, the Orenburg Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that in Orsk an elderly woman believed the fraudsters, transferring about 1.4 million rubles to them.

The attackers introduced themselves as security officers of the Central Bank and law enforcement agencies. The woman was convinced that they were trying to write off money from her account.

Having fulfilled the instructions of the fraudsters, a resident of Orsk withdrew 500 thousand rubles from the account. She listed them to the attackers. After that, unknown persons persuaded her to withdraw 485 thousand rubles from the funded deposit. When the scammers received this amount, they decided to deceive the Orsk woman one more time.

The callers informed the pensioner about an attempt to take out a loan to her account. Allegedly, in order to prevent this, you need to draw up this agreement with the bank yourself. Thus, she took 414 thousand rubles and transferred them to the "safe" account by the callers.

When the son came to the woman, he realized that his mother had been deceived. After that, the family turned to the police.^[5]

The daughter of the Russian President's Press Secretary Peskov was deceived by telephone swindlers

At the end of August 2022, it became known about the telephone fraud faced by Elizaveta Peskova. This was told at the educational forum "Knowledge" by her father, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. Read more here.

Telephone scammers lured 1.2 million rubles from the deputy head of the Federal Tax Service of Russia

As it became known on May 13, 2022, telephone scammers stole 1.2 million rubles from the deputy head of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) of Russia Svetlana Bondarchuk. According to TASS, citing a law enforcement source, unknown persons contacted Bondarchuk and introduced themselves as employees of Sberbank and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. They convinced her to transfer funds to "safe accounts," which the victim did. Realizing that she was deceived, she wrote a statement to the police, the agency said in a publication. Read more here.

Telephone scammers disguised as calls from the Central Bank lured 1 million rubles from the ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater

As it became known on May 4, 2022, telephone scammers lured 1 million rubles from the ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater Tatyana Osipova. She, as reported by the Moskva agency, turned to the police on May 3 and said that the swindlers convinced her to issue consumer loans, withdraw funds and transfer them to the accounts indicated during the telephone conversation. Read more here.

2021

Telephone scammers cheated Russian billionaire Sergei Sudarikov

In mid-December 2021, it became known about the telephone fraud faced by billionaire Sergei Sudarikov. The owner of the Region group of companies and the co-owner of the Rossium concern transferred a considerable amount to the attackers. Read more here.

Deception of Atomenergoproekt top manager for 9.3 million rubles

In October 2021, law enforcement officers conduct an investigation into fraud against the deputy head of Atomenergoproekt. The top manager claims that he was deceived by telephone scammers from the "security service" and withdrawn 9.3 million rubles to the "safe account."

Phone fraud causes Americans to lose record amounts

In late May 2022, Truecaller announced the results of a study conducted in collaboration with The Harris Poll. The report highlights trends in spam and phone fraud that are increasingly infiltrating the US. According to scientists, as a result of telephone fraud, a record $39.5 billion was stolen from Americans in 2021.

According to the study, 33% of Americans reported being targeted by phone scammers, and 20% more than once. Among those who lost money as a result of telephone fraud in 2022, the average loss was $577, which is 14.94% more than in 2021 $502. 61.1% of these people were deceived by robocalls.

The study shows that despite Federal Communications Commission (FCC) efforts to regulate through the STIR/SHAKEN system (a set of FCC standards aimed at protecting Americans from robocalls and scammers), about 68.4 million Americans have been targeted by phone scammers in the past 12 months, suggesting that scammers are circumventing government regulation and finding more sophisticated ways to deceive victims.

Men are subjected to fraud more often than women since the beginning of 2021, 55.6% of those who were victims of telephone fraud were men, while among women there were only 42.2%. As in previous years, the results of the study showed that younger men were more likely to lose money through phone fraud than older men, especially those aged 18-34 years 46% and 35-44 years 51%, compared to men 45-54 years 24%.

About 63% of Americans believe they may miss legitimate calls because they suspect it is spam and don't respond. In the case of fraud, 43% of people reported downloading a spam-blocking app or number identifier to protect themselves. At the same time, 25% of respondents reported that they missed legitimate commercial calls due to their blocking, i.e. extreme or inaccurate spam filtering - this proves that many spam filters do not work accurately. It also hints that improved caller ID, more accurate spam analytics, and future call screening innovations are important to improve the communication environment.

Fake neighbors, i.e. spam calls to someone with the same area code, have become more frequent over the past year: 51% of respondents replied that they observed an increase in the number of such smart robocalls. Despite taking action to combat this type of fake, only 7% of respondents said they had seen a decline in robocalls with the same area code over the past year.

This year's results are alarming and shed light on the fact that fraudsters and swindlers continue to cheat on increased government regulation. In addition, since many robocalls come from abroad, the strengthening of regulation should work in parallel with technological advances provided by number identifiers and spam blocking applications such as Truecaller, said Truecaller CEO Alan Mamedi.

86% of Americans said they only try to answer calls if they can identify the person or business from which they are calling. In addition, 60% of Americans prefer to use other ways to communicate, such as text messages, social media, apps and email, to avoid phone calls entirely. Modern forms of communication requiring less immediacy are becoming increasingly preferred.

Young people choose to take action by downloading the Spam Blocker/Caller ID apps, while over-65s choose to cancel credit cards/change account numbers after being duped. In addition, the report notes that people with higher income levels are more likely to take action after losing money through phone fraud.^[6]

2020

Fraudsters stole a record 400 million rubles from a bank client in the Russian Federation

On May 18, 2021, it became known about a record amount of theft of money from one bank client in Russia. We are talking about 400 million rubles, which the woman withdrew from the account and transferred to fraudsters in 2020.

Sergei Veligodsky, head of the anti-cyber fraud department of Sberbank, announced this on the sidelines of the visiting meeting of the State Duma working group on the development of proposals to combat crimes in the field of information and communication technologies. He noted that the victim was not a client of Sberbank. At the same time, Veligodsky did not name the name of the credit institution in which the victim of a large fraud kept his funds.

According to a representative of Sberbank, the criminals called the 54-year-old woman, posing as security officers from her bank, and said that they would "save her money." She told them that she had 14 million rubles on her account, to which the attackers replied:

Great, we take it, remove it and carry it.

After that, the woman said that she had another 380 million rubles in an account with another bank. The fraudsters said the amount was large and switched it to the so-called "employee FSB."

They are like: we will not communicate with you now, this money is very serious. Now the "FSB officer" will call you and will deal with you. She received a call from the FSB and then began to unwind her. And so she withdrew this money for a month and sent it to the "rescuers," Veligodsky retold this case (quoted by RBC).

According to a study by the Tinkoff group, in 2020, fraudsters stole an average of 13.9 thousand rubles from Russians at a time, which is 8% less than a year ago. According to FinCERT, in 2020 the number of fraudulent transactions with Russian accounts increased by 34% compared to 2019, the amount of money transferred to fraudsters increased by 52.2% over the year^[7]

OTP Bank has compiled a social portrait of the victim of telephone fraudsters

OTP Bank specialists have identified typical features of customers who can get into the network of telephone fraudsters, and recommend that the most vulnerable categories of customers more often remember the rules of personal cybersecurity, the Банки.ру portal reported in December 2020.

Every year in the New Year period, bank customers receive a large number of calls from telephone scammers trying to steal funds from their accounts, and in 2020, scammers began to increasingly use social engineering methods, posing as bank employees. According to the Central Bank, such methods account for 83.8% of the total number of attacks on bank customers.

It turned out that the most often victims of telephone criminals are men, and people who are married fall for the tricks of social engineering twice as often as unmarried. People under 33 and over 68 are more likely to fall into the network of criminals. In addition, scammers are more likely to try to contact credit card holders. The most vigilant clients of OTP Bank live in the Far East, and the most gullible - in the southern regions and in the Urals.

Notes