For the first time, criminals used Maslenitsa for Online fraud

In 2025, cybercriminals used the Carnival theme for the first time. There are usually no sales, no promotions with gifts and discounts, and in general, the holiday does not have the color of an event related to finance in one way or another, a senior analyst at the digital risk protection department of F6 (former F.A.C.C.T.) told Izvestia. Maria Sinitsyna.

"Resources that are used for investment fraud have been discovered. They were created on behalf of a real company, and their design uses visual images associated with a traditional holiday. "In honor of Maslenitsa," as indicated on the websites, it is suggested to enter your first name, last name and phone number to "search the bonus lists," Sinitsyna said.

According to her, as soon as the victim leaves his data, the attacker calls her, who introduces himself as a personal manager, persuades her to make a "deposit" to buy shares.

Experts recommend following the basic rules of digital security: do not follow links from questionable correspondence in mail, social networks or messengers. Do not enter confidential data, including the verification code, on suspicious resources, for example, when asked to verify an account in a messenger to access a platform.

Experts also advised using security programs that will automatically protect you from trying to switch to a phishing or scam resource.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Damn scam: cyber-fraudsters used Maslenitsa for the first time to cheat on the Runet