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- School of deception: what schemes to expect from scammers before September 1
School of deception: what schemes to expect from scammers before September 1
Fraudsters on the eve of September 1 may use various schemes to deceive students and their parents, experts have warned about this. There has been an increase in phishing activity during the school preparation period. At the same time, we are talking not only about fake online stores with "profitable" offers for stationery and school uniforms, but also about dangerous software used by children. For more information about what schemes to expect from scammers before September 1, what are the dangers of these tricks and how to protect yourself from them, read the Izvestia article
What is the topic of school preparation interesting to scammers?
While preparing children for school, many parents are stressed: some are solving enrollment issues (applying for documents, enrolling in the desired class), others are looking for the best discounts and the best deals for buying uniforms and school supplies.
"When a person is in a stressful situation, they often lose the ability to think critically and, as a result, become a convenient target for scammers," says Ksenia Akhrameeva, associate professor, head of the laboratory for the Development and Promotion of cybersecurity competencies at Gazinformservice, in an interview with Izvestia.
Such a large-scale event as preparing children for school affects millions of people and inevitably attracts the attention of intruders, adds Andrey Sidenko, head of online child safety at Kaspersky Lab. According to the expert, we are talking not only about fake online stores with "profitable" offers for stationery and school uniforms, but also about the use of third-party software by children.
For example, students are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) programs to help with homework, but they don't always understand which sources are safe to download them from. This creates a risk of downloading malicious software.
What fraud schemes to expect before September 1 in 2025
Before September 1, 2025, fraudsters will actively play on the topic of buying goods for schools, as well as purchasing gadgets — smartphones, tablets and smart watches, Andrei Sidenko says in an interview with Izvestia. At the same time, parents of first—graders are a special risk group.
— They may receive calls or messages from "school staff" asking them to transfer personal data or SMS codes allegedly to "add a child to class" or "arrange free meals," says the expert. — Attackers can also disguise themselves as acquaintances and ask to "borrow" data from messengers or accounts.
A new reason for luring citizens to phishing resources will be the actively discussed new GOST on school uniforms, said Konstantin Gorbunov, a leading expert on network threats and web developer at the Security Code company. Scammers may try to convince users that it is their online platform that has a range of products that meet the standard.
In 2025, Ksenia Akhrameeva advises parents to be attentive to calls allegedly on behalf of school staff. They may claim that there are problems with entering the child into certain databases and in order to add him to the list of students, you need to dictate the SMS code. Such tricks are fraught with leakage of personal data, loss of access to accounts on the Gosuslugi portal and direct financial losses.
— It is worth noting that the targets of scammers can be parents of not only first—graders, but also those children who are already going to school, - adds the specialist. — The tricks against them are calls on behalf of school representatives: allegedly, there was a malfunction with the electronic diary or it is necessary to confirm certain data before September 1 by providing an SMS code.
What fraud schemes were recorded earlier before September 1
The growth of phishing activity during the preparation period for school, by analogy with other major events, has been recorded for several years. So, in 2024, the "Anti-phishing" components in Kaspersky Lab solutions worked more than 890 million times, and this figure continues to grow, says Andrey Sidenko.
— In general, in previous years, before September 1, various schemes from the field of online commerce were relevant, for example, phishing sites to which users were lured under the pretext of the most favorable prices, - Konstantin Gorbunov says in an interview with Izvestia. — After the payment, the portal's support stopped responding, the goods did not arrive, and the bank card data fell into the hands of fraudsters.
In addition, the scammers launched online sweepstakes for school supplies, in order to participate in which users were asked for personal data, such as e-mail, phone number, date of birth and residential address. All this information was supposedly necessary to contact the winner and send a gift, but in fact they were simply accumulated by intruders.
As Konstantin Gorbunov notes, combined schemes are also known, when a user was first lured to a phishing site to collect a primary array of personal data, and then a payment confirmation email was sent to him, which contained a malicious attachment. This is how the scammers gained access to the user's device.
"Previously, there were a lot of ads online about "premium" services like private tutors, unique sections and specialized clubs offering to book seats only if an advance payment is made in advance," adds Yakov Filevsky, an expert on sociotechnical testing at Angara Security. — However, after the payment, all communication with the "sellers" stopped.
Another scenario faced by cybersecurity experts was the hacking of a parent's account in a parent chat, from which fake requests were then sent, allegedly to raise funds for school events. This scheme quickly spread further, covering an increasing number of victims, emphasizes Yakov Filevsky.
How to protect yourself from fraud schemes before the start of the school year
Before the start of the school year, parents become victims of various fraudulent schemes, first of all, who, in a hurry or in an effort to save money, lose their vigilance and do not recognize the tricks of scammers, says a data analyst at the coordination center for domains .RU/ in an interview with Izvestia.Russian Federation Evgeny Pankov. According to the expert, parents of first—graders are in a special risk zone, for whom preparing for school is a new experience.
— They do not yet know the verified online shopping stores, they have not had time to establish contact with the teacher and the school management, they do not know about the procedures for receiving payments. All this makes them easy targets for scammers," says the specialist. — But students and teachers can also fall for the tricks of scammers.
Teachers should remember: after vacations, schemes are often activated where the "director" asks them to urgently transfer personal data or transfer money to a "secure account," adds Andrey Sidenko. At the same time, in case of successful implementation of fraudulent schemes, vulnerable groups of citizens risk both losing finances and providing attackers with their own data for further attacks.
In order to protect against fraud attacks before September 1, Alexander Vurasko, Director of Development at the Solar AURA External Digital Threat Monitoring Center (Solar Group), advises to be critical of any incoming phone calls, not to trust unfamiliar interlocutors and not to fulfill their requirements, as well as not to rush and double-check information.
— Do not dictate any codes from messages on the phone and do not follow suspicious links, as well as check the authenticity of sites through a search engine, - the specialist recommends.
In turn, Andrey Sidenko calls for installing reliable security software on the devices of the whole family, including children's smartphones. It is also worth considering parental control programs: they help to restrict access to unwanted content, set a schedule for using the device, determine the location of the child and see his search queries. However, technique is only half the protection. It is important to improve digital literacy, discuss potential risks with children and build trusting relationships so that they do not hesitate to share suspicious situations, the specialist concludes.
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