Mail has recorded a 10% increase in phishing attacks over the year

Phishing activity increased by 10% during the sales period and in the run-up to Black Friday. The scammers began to abandon the "fan mail" and began to attack the victims in a more personalized manner. This is evidenced by data from Mail, Kaspersky Lab, and MegaFon analytics, which were reviewed by Izvestia on November 20.

The attackers create fake pages imitating popular online stores, as well as promotions and sweepstakes from well-known brands and trading platforms, MegaFon noted. Scenarios where a potential victim is encouraged to contact scammers on their own have become more actively used.

According to Kaspersky Lab, in October 2025, the number of spam emails in Russian that mentioned the topic of "Black Friday" increased almost nine-fold compared to October 2024. Anna Lazaricheva, a senior spam analyst at the company, noted that the ways of sending such messages are constantly evolving.

"In some current scam mailings, the variability of the message texts indicates that the attackers are probably interested in artificial intelligence. The senders and the type of links change from mailing list to mailing list," she clarified.

Lazaricheva urged to critically evaluate all incoming messages, not to follow links from questionable emails and not to open files in attachments from unknown senders.

"Users need to remain vigilant in all digital channels, and companies need to strengthen monitoring and protection precisely at those points where malicious activity is gradually migrating," said Dmitry Moryakov, head of the Mail spam analysis group.

Black Friday 2025: how to distinguish a real discount from a fake one

How to profitably shop at a November sale

On November 10, Informzashita experts told Izvestia that on the eve of Black Friday, fraudsters were attacking Russians via email and messengers and claiming that their purchases gave them the right to participate in a raffle of valuable prizes. It was clarified that the scammers offer victims to register on the site, while using an account on Gosuslugi. To be convincing, they create chats with the alleged participants of the practical jokes, most of whom are bots. After gaining access to "Public Services," attackers can steal valuable data, issue microloans, and gain access to other accounts, including in banking applications.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.