Cyber analysts predicted an increase in fraud against children in the summer

Cyber analysts have predicted an increase in fraud against children during the summer holidays. They are trying to deceive them with the help of fake mobile games, social networks, and increasingly speculate on the topic of school exams. MegaFon specialists, together with Kaspersky Lab and RuStore, analyzed trends and compiled a list of recommendations on how to protect children from digital threats. Izvestia got acquainted with the information on June 2.

According to analysts, since the beginning of the year, scammers have increasingly posed as school representatives: head teachers, social educators. In some cases, students are asked to register on a specific resource, in others they are asked to name an SMS code supposedly to activate the school diary, and sometimes they are asked to clarify the personal data of their parents. In the first five months of this year, 30% more such incidents were registered than in the whole of last year. During the exam period, the scheme is relevant, according to which graduates are offered to get answers or find out the results of the Unified State Exam before others.

"We have been recording an increase in fraudulent activity against children since the beginning of the year, both based on our own analytics and on requests from our subscribers. Fraudsters' calls are blocked, but many attackers communicate with children on social networks and messengers. One of the latest schemes involves the involvement of minors in criminal activities through offers to rent out their accounts in messengers and social networks for money. Such accounts are used for fraudulent phone calls, spreading malicious content, or conducting phishing attacks, including on friends and acquaintances through trusted communication channels," said Sergey Khrenov, director of MegaFon's Revenue Loss Prevention department.

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

In addition to social engineering techniques, cybercriminals infiltrate gadgets through applications.

"Most often, scammers create fake versions of popular games and services that contain links to phishing sites or malware for stealing personal and payment data. Installation files are distributed through game chats and comments on social networks, where scammers offer free in-game items or easy earnings through a special application. To prevent such fraud, it is important to explain to children that you only need to download games from trusted app stores," said Dmitry Morev, Director of Information Security at RuStore.

According to Kaspersky Lab, the number of attacks on Russian users' Android devices, in which malicious files mimicked popular games among children, increased by almost 60% in the first four months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. In addition, attackers embed malicious software in mods (updates for modification or bug fixes) for popular games.

"We recommend that you remain vigilant and do not grant applications permissions for confidential data (SMS, call logs, contact list, etc.), as well as for "special features" unless explicitly necessary. A security solution will help minimize the risks of infecting a device with malware. It should be installed not only on a PC, but also on a mobile device," added Dmitry Kalinin, a cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky Lab.

Earlier, on May 15, it was reported that 97% of Russians surveyed had experienced cyberbullying over the past year. This is stated in the results of a study by the SberMarketing agency and the digital risk management company BI.ZONE. At the same time, the most common type of fraud is telephone fraud: four out of five Russians (79%) have received such calls over the past 12 months.