Cybercriminals became 1.5 times more likely to attack children

The number of fraudulent attacks on children and teenagers in early 2025 increased by almost 50% compared to the second half of 2024. Peter Alferov, Beeline's anti-fraud director, told Izvestia about this.

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"So, if last year there were an average of 1,430 such attacks per day, then in 2025 there were 2,140," he says.

According to him, scammers usually present themselves as employees of the school, the Ministry of Education or the military enlistment office, or members of the admissions or examination committee. Further, depending on the legend, the scammers urgently require the child to sign a document or register on the educational portal, and to do this, click on the link, name the code from the SMS or turn on the screen demonstration.

In the first half of 2025, cyber attacks on schoolchildren increased by 30% compared to the same period in 2024, and malicious attacks through fake games increased by 60%, estimated Igor Bederov, founder of the Internet Search company, NTI SafeNet market expert.

He also noted that after the Unified State Exam, offers of "accelerated enrollment" in universities or the sale of "exam answers" became more frequent.

Preparation for exams, university admission, the beginning of summer holidays and the increased attention of military enlistment offices to applicants are all factors of the expected seasonal increase in fraud activity against children and adolescents, said Fedor Chunizhekov, head of the Positive Technologies research group.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Age differences: scammers are 1.5 times more likely to attack children