Lucky ticket: how scammers lure Russians into pyramids under the guise of lottery
Fraudsters offer Russians to buy a lottery winning scheme, but in fact they drag them into a financial pyramid. People are promised rewards for attracting new participants, cybersecurity experts said. Izvestia found out how the new scheme works, how else criminals promote pyramids and how to protect themselves from falling into them.
The updated pyramid
Fraudsters offer Russians to buy a lottery winning scheme, but in fact they drag them into a financial pyramid. Cybersecurity experts told Izvestia about this.
Unknown people are sending letters with a link to a paid Telegram channel, where a scheme for winning a large sum is allegedly laid out. If a person agrees and pays for access, they get nothing. Instead, he is offered to resell access to the channel to friends.
–– The essence of the scheme is not new - it is just a modern packaging for a pyramid known for decades. Previously, such constructions were disguised as "investment clubs," but today scammers use a more emotional hook — faith in a guaranteed lottery win," said Sargis Shmavonian, an expert at Cyberprotect.
According to him, another updated element was the distribution channel — paid Telegram channels and mass email newsletters. This approach shows the closeness of the scheme, the individualization of communication between the victim and the scammers, which blocks the analysis of the overall situation.
–"It creates a false feeling in the victim that it is anonymous and safe and it is safe to participate in a fraudulent pyramid-type referral system," the source explained to Izvestia.
At the same time, lawyer Sean Betrozov added, the victim himself becomes an accomplice of the criminals. This means that in addition to losing money, he may also incur criminal liability.
Scheme options
According to Anton Tereshonkov, Cyberdome's CSO, the lottery scheme can have several variations, for example, with the sale of valuable and expensive training at an affordable price. A person decides to take a risk, buys a course and loses money.
–– Then he is invited back to join the general scheme, promising to share the money of the deceived. Payments are usually negotiated once a day, and the person begins to involve other people. They continue to transfer money to the scammers' account, and when the time comes for payments, the person's account is added to the blacklist," says Tereshonkov.
If we are talking specifically about lottery schemes, fraudsters can use various psychological techniques. For example, they create the illusion of a prank - that other users are participating in it besides the victim.
–– The rules are simple: the lottery is won by the one who buys the last ticket. But he'll never know how many tickets he's bought until he buys at least one. Thus, the person sends money as a contribution for participation. Needless to say, at the last moment, someone else, but not him, will buy the winning ticket? Thus, people suffering from ludomania and other similar disorders are involved in the scheme," says the CSO of Cyberdome.
As Tereshonkov notes, lottery scambots usually display articles written allegedly by people who "won more than once" and now share the earnings method with everyone for free. Almost always, to increase the probability of winning, it is suggested to invite friends and play together, gaining an advantage over other players.
The expert does not recommend logging into such bots - the offer itself gives out fraud here.
–– If they sell you a "secret" first, and then, when you don't find it, they offer to "earn money in a different way", that is, bring other people, this is a classic sign of a pyramid scheme, - concludes the interlocutor of Izvestia.
What are pyramid schemes?
A pyramid scheme is a system where income is paid to the first participants at the expense of new depositors. People are promised high returns, but in fact they are usually deceived, lawyer Sean Betrozov explains to Izvestia.
–– Sometimes a pyramid can look decent. For example, as a financial literacy education project. A person is offered a high income, but it is formed not from real investments, but from the money of new participants. When the flow of people dries up, the project disappears, and with it all the investments," says Betrozov.
Financial pyramids appeared in Russia in the nineties, but today they are no less widespread. According to the Central Bank, in the first half of 2025 alone, more than two thousand projects with pyramid signs were identified, which is 1.5 times higher than in the previous year, adds Sargis Shmavonian, an expert at Cyberprotect.
According to him, in recent years, the pyramids have evolved and are mainly represented in online formats.:
pseudo-investment schemes with promises of high returns;
"training" programs with access to "secret" techniques;
false information about "unique" winning schemes;
schemes under the guise of network marketing.
As Konstantin Gorbunov, a leading expert on network threats and web developer at the Security Code company, explains, the difference between marketing and pyramids is that the business model of the former has a specific product that distributors who have joined the partner program can sell. They can also attract other distributors to the program, subsequently receiving income from their sales. That is, the main source of income is built around sales of the main product.
"In the pyramid, the product is either veiled, unclear, or absent altogether, in other words, air is being sold, and even illegally," Gorbunov emphasizes.
How not to fall into the pyramid
In order to avoid falling into a pyramid scheme, it is important to be able to distinguish it at the very first stage. Experts call the promise of guaranteed winnings the main sign of deception.
–– Lottery is always based on chance, and if someone claims to have found a way to win without risk, it's a lie. The second point is the lack of transparency. You don't see the author, the company, or the terms. They rush you to pay, promise that the chance is "about to end," and ask you to transfer money to a card or a crypto wallet. Everything is built on haste," says Sarkis Shmavonian.
If the scheme is disguised as training, there is initially no teacher, no program, no guarantee of return. It all ends with the same thing - an invitation to bring others. At this stage, the project should be abandoned.
To protect against fraudsters, the Cyberprotect expert recommends:
Never pay for "secret techniques" and "guaranteed" results;
check companies according to the official registers of the Bank of Russia;
immediately stop communicating if you need to provide an SMS code.;
critically evaluate over-profitable offers;
remember that there is no such thing as easy money.
–– Never transfer money to personal cards, even if it seems to you that the amount is insignificant. No "curator" from Telegram has the right to accept payment for himself. And if the money has already gone, you need to collect all the evidence right away.: take screenshots, letters, checks and contact the bank to record the transaction, and then to the police," concludes lawyer Sean Betrozov.
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