How many Russians suffer from the actions of fraudsters
On March 5, the Head of State held a video conference with members of the Government. The main topic is comprehensive measures to combat telephone and Internet fraud. The President called the situation in this area "extremely acute."
— The damage to citizens, and therefore to the state, from telephone and Internet scammers has simply acquired unacceptable proportions, very large. Therefore, we need to act quickly," Vladimir Putin urged.
The number of such crimes increased by 13% last year, and two thirds of them (more than 485,000) were theft committed using social engineering, said Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov. One of the main reasons for the increase in the number of such crimes is data leaks, on the basis of which fraudsters form personalized attack scenarios against citizens, especially from socially vulnerable categories: in 2024, more than 110 thousand people of retirement age were subjected to them, said the head of the supervisory authority.
Social activists also cite impressive figures: almost 90% of Russians have encountered telephone scams, about 10 million have become their victims, having lost money, said Mikhail Kuznetsov, head of the executive committee of the Popular Front. Fraudsters most often present themselves as law enforcement officers, banks, and telecom operators when talking to citizens. The Popular Front receives up to 60,000 calls a year with complaints about phone fraud. 40% of the total number of victims lost up to 100 thousand rubles, and 30% — from 100 thousand to 1 million. One of the most widespread practices is making loans under the influence of scammers.
The meeting participants suggested their own ways of fighting: for example, Igor Krasnov believes that it is necessary to regulate the sale of SIM cards through marketplaces. The government has taken the initiative to launch a service on Public Services where citizens can install a self-lock on issuing SIM cards in their name. According to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko, "situations often arise when law enforcement agencies get involved, start to figure it out, and it turns out that the phone number is actually stolen." It is also proposed to introduce a self-lock on receiving international calls.
— Today, a large proportion of fraudulent calls are made using foreign numbers, as well as simply from the territory of foreign countries, that is, the callers are located outside our country. Naturally, it is difficult for law enforcement agencies to deal with this, and it is also quite difficult to catch these schemes," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
As the People's Front told Izvestia, hundreds of fraudulent call centers are operating against Russia in Ukraine and the Baltic States, and up to 300 billion rubles could have been withdrawn from citizens' accounts last year.
How banks protect their customers
The President told how he had discussed measures to combat telephone and Internet fraud several times with the Chairman of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina. The head of the Central Bank stated that large Russian banks repel over 99% of fraudulent attacks against citizens. Nevertheless, the volume of transactions without the consent of customers is only growing — in 2024, almost twice as many funds were stolen from Russians, 27 billion rubles.
Financial authorities continue to work on measures to reduce fraud. The main struggle is being waged against the so—called drops - people through whose cards scammers withdraw stolen money, said the head of the regulator. They are already being blocked from accessing online banking, but several more measures are in development. For example, the Central Bank is discussing a "reasonable" limit on the number of issued bank cards per person — similar legislation is currently in force in Kazakhstan.
— These restrictions will not affect ordinary citizens, because ordinary citizens do not open hundreds, even thousands of cards," Elvira Nabiullina clarified.
A reasonable limit on the number of cards per person is 10-15, says Denis Kalemberg, CEO of SafeTech. In addition, Elvira Nabiullina noted that there are a large number of teenagers among the drops, because in Russia you can become a bank customer from the age of 14. They transfer card processing data to fraudsters, and they don't even know that they are accomplices in a crime. Therefore, the Central Bank believes that parents should consent to the opening of cards and accounts for minors, as well as receive statements on the movement of funds so that suspicious transactions can be noticed.
The problem of teenage fraud was also stated in the Popular Front: children actually become the "hands" of scammers — they can even conduct a remote search of their own apartment with the subsequent transfer of valuables to criminals or to send a code from SMS messages sent to their parents' phones. To do this, it is worth giving teenagers debit cards with a minimum cash withdrawal limit and turnover at the discretion of adults.
— A more precise wording is needed in the Civil Code. It is necessary to clearly prescribe in the regulatory framework the requirement for banks to request parental consent to open an account and receive a bank card for minors, as well as to work out supervisory measures for their non-compliance," Veniamin Kaganov, General director of the Association for the Development of Financial Literacy, told Izvestia.
Putin's remarks at a meeting of the Interior Ministry board
Vladimir Putin raised the same topic at an expanded meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. By the way, the detection rate of cybercrimes has decreased to 23%, and their number is growing. Last year, the damage exceeded 200 billion rubles. Moreover, a quarter of the victims are pensioners, the president said.
At the same time, the detection rates of other crimes in Russia are improving, in particular, murders, robberies, and apartment thefts, the president noted. We must not slow down the pace in the fight against corruption, and special attention should be paid to curbing attempts to steal budget funds in the implementation of state defense orders and national projects.
Today, the personnel problem is growing in the Interior Ministry system, which requires solutions in all areas, the head of state noted. According to him, law enforcement agencies should not allow laxity in the conditions of a special operation. It also became known that the issuance of passports to residents of Donbass and Novorossiya was carried out almost in full.
— In the conditions of the armed conflict imposed on us and the conduct of a special military operation, the entire law enforcement sphere and its key link, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, should certainly build all their activities based on these threats, which undoubtedly arise in today's situation, the President noted.
A significant part of the speech concerned migration policy. Vladimir Putin instructed to strengthen the fight against illegal migration. It is also necessary to stop its channels, it is necessary to explore the possibility of abandoning the paper migration card and switching to electronic authorization of immigrants from abroad, he said. According to Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, about 700,000 foreign citizens did not have a regulated legal status to stay in Russia by the end of 2024.
The preservation of cultural identity and the security of society remain the priorities of Russian migration policy, the head of state recalled. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the mechanisms for the return of compatriots. They should also affect foreigners who want to move to Russia, who share traditional values and want to live and work here. "These and other innovations should be reflected in the updated concept of migration policy, which should be adopted as early as this year, as soon as possible," the president stressed.
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