The Ministry of Internal Affairs told about a new fraudulent scheme with "secret chats" in Telegram

Scammers have started using the "secret chat" feature in the Telegram messenger to steal user data. This was announced on March 14 by the Department for Combating Cybercrimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

"Scammers use the Secret Chat feature and create fake messages that mimic notifications from the messenger's support service," the agency said in a Telegram channel.

The attackers send messages to users about allegedly logging into the account from a new device and offer to click on the confirmation link. The Interior Ministry explained that the real notifications of the service do not come to secret chats — they are sent only to a regular dialogue with an official verified account marked with a blue check mark.

"Support staff do not request confirmation codes, passwords, or other personal information through correspondence," the department stressed.

Citizens are advised not to follow links from such messages and to check information through official support channels.

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On March 11, Russians were warned that fraudsters began sending emails with QR codes under the guise of the Federal Tax Service. Citizens receive notifications about unpaid taxes or arrears, which suggest that they quickly solve the problem by clicking on the QR code for payment. The Interior Ministry recommended checking information only through a personal account on the official website of the Federal Tax Service, not following QR codes from letters from unknown senders and not entering personal data on unverified pages.

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