The Interior Ministry warned about the dangers of using messengers

Most remote crimes are committed using instant messengers. This was announced on August 15 by the press center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

"The Russian Interior Ministry warns of the need to be careful when using instant messaging tools (Internet messengers). According to statistics, they are the most common tool for committing crimes, including remote theft," the agency's website says.

The Interior Ministry clarified that messengers are actively used by fraudsters for criminal purposes by sending messages and calls, including via video. According to the agency's materials, fraudulent call centers from Ukraine prefer this method of communication, since Internet connections are more difficult to track and block.

In addition, messengers serve as a means of recruiting Russian citizens by the Ukrainian special services to commit various crimes. In the first half of 2025, the Ministry of Internal Affairs registered more than 14.2 thousand crimes committed using messengers.

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Earlier that day, Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy and federal coordinator of the Digital Russia party project, said that more than 52,000 offenses committed on WhatsApp (owned by Meta, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) and Telegram messengers had been registered by law enforcement officials since the beginning of this year.

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