Russians were warned about the top 3 fraud schemes in the third quarter of 2025

In the third quarter of 2025, there were more fraudulent schemes that use social engineering methods and users' trust in reputable sources. This was reported to Izvestia on October 29 by BI.ZONE AntiFraud.

Attackers are increasingly acting on behalf of the management of companies, financial and investment organizations, forcing victims to transfer money or transfer confidential information.

"For example, scammers write to messengers en masse, send SMS or make phone calls. They claim that the user's bank account or account on the Gosuslug portal has been hacked. Under the pretext of protecting funds, the victim is persuaded to transfer money to accounts controlled by fraudsters," the analysts said.

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Another option is that attackers are trying to obtain confidential data to access a personal account at a bank or apply for loans. In the third quarter of 2025, an increase in such attacks was recorded — 50% more incidents compared to the second quarter.

Also, scammers under the guise of bank technical support or services for earnings convince the user to install fake programs. After that, malware on the victim's device steals personal data and gives criminals access to SMS messages. Phishing banking sites are especially often used in scenarios that occur in popular messengers. The increase in the number of such schemes in the third quarter was 35% compared to the previous quarter.

A common scheme is when scammers, on behalf of company executives, convince employees to transfer money or transfer confidential data. Deepfake technology is often used — voice or image substitution using neural networks. In the third quarter, fraudsters used such scenarios 30% more often than in the second quarter.

"We see how attackers are increasingly using new technologies and psychological pressure to deceive victims. To reduce risks, it is important to increase the level of cyber literacy, observe digital hygiene and not disclose personal data to unverified sources," added Alexey Luzhnov, head of the service.

Shortly before that, the Department for the organization of the fight against the illegal use of information and communication technologies (UBK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation reported that fraudsters began to actively deceive people through fake online stores of major brands, using the theme of sales, including during the "Black Friday" period.

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