Expert names the most susceptible categories of population to cyber fraud

With the development of information technologies, cases of cyber fraud are also on the rise. Ksenia Klokova, director of the Cloud Networks Academy, told Izvestia on February 22 which categories of the population are most susceptible to the influence of cybercriminals.

"Information technologies allow us to order food, clothes, pay for a child's mugs, buy a theater ticket from anywhere in the world. But few people assess the risks that entail a digital footprint, that is, your data on the Internet. We enter personal data (name, passport data, mail, phone number) and do not even think about whether this information is protected," she said.

The expert specified that last year in Russia more than 702 thousand cybercrimes were committed, 135 facts of personal data leaks containing more than 710 million records were recorded. According to her, the sources of data leaks are mostly companies that are representatives of large and medium-sized businesses, which store and process personal data of their clients.

Fraudsters deceive Russians in the virtual world. What you need to know

At the same time, she cited data from the Russian Interior Ministry, according to which Russians lost about 168 billion rubles in 11 months of 2024 as a result of fraudulent actions. Klokova named several categories of populations that are most susceptible to cyber fraud.

"First, these are young moms with children under three years old due to stress, lack of sleep and their emotional vulnerability. They are also children, teenagers and young adults under the age of 25 because of their emotional vulnerability and some immaturity, immature, unformed psyche," she said.

In addition, people of mature age and the elderly, who either live far away from their relatives and loved ones or have the least amount of information about how scammers operate and how they can be recognized, often fall for the tricks of swindlers.

At the same time, regional residents and uneducated citizens who are unaware of the attackers' tools can fall victim to scammers.

"If you or your loved ones belong to these categories, this is no reason to recognize yourself as an easy target or stop using cloud technologies, social networks or services. It means that you should be on the alert and raise awareness: read thematic media and channels, recommendations of expert companies, study precautions and follow them," Klokova added.

She drew attention to the fact that many companies that provide information security have begun to understand the need to inform not only employees of organizations, but also ordinary people about threats, and now they release free training products that can be viewed.

On December 19, 2024, the Coordination Center for .RU/.RF domains told Izvestia that fraudsters' attacks on Telegram users have increased 19 times. Attackers use a variety of schemes to hack users' accounts: fake social payments for holidays, New Year sales, cheap tickets to Christmas trees, concerts and performances.