Glove compartment: scammers started threatening fines for hogweed and garbage
New fraudulent schemes aimed at owners of suburban areas have appeared in Russia. They are related to the tightening of responsibility for the condition of the earth. Malefactors send fake messages to summer residents about violations detected on their plots. When clicking on the links, "failed" summer residents are offered the opportunity to pay with a discount. Then the phone of the potential victim is transferred to the call center, where fraudsters use the already traditional scheme with "hacking" of "Public Services". About how other people deceive summer residents — in the material of Izvestia.
What new schemes have the scammers come up with?
On the eve of the holiday season, land owners began receiving emails and SMS messages about weeds and debris allegedly found on their plots. Thus, fraudsters are exploiting the topic of tightening responsibility for the condition of household plots, campfires and lack of weed control in 2026, the DLBI data leak intelligence service told Izvestia.
When clicking on the link, the victim is asked to pay a discounted fine, and then the cottager's phone is transferred to the call center, where his "employees" are trying to implement a typical scheme with an allegedly hacked Gosuslug account.
According to DLBI experts, the data of summer residents could have been obtained by intruders from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. Hackers have previously reported leaks from this database. However, at the same time, Rosreestr officially denied these reports.
At the same time, Konstantin Larin, head of the Bastion cyber intelligence department, recalled that in January 2026, analysts discovered information on 10,000 gardening non-profit partnerships (SNTS) on the Internet.
— This is about 10% of their total number in the country, — the expert specified. — The upload contained information about the legal entities of the farming co-op: names, addresses, INN, phone numbers.
Previously, cadastral data was public, so it is quite realistic to find information about land owners in open sources, said Alexander Vurasko, Director of Development at the Solar AURA Monitoring Center for External digital Threats.
"People often own land for decades, so it's not particularly difficult to find old information," he stressed and confirmed that the scheme of attacks on summer residents had begun to be used.
Fraudsters have created a pipeline of earnings based on changes in legislation, noted Ashot Oganesyan, founder and technical director of DLBI.
"It is safe to predict that there will be more and more fake fines, so it is worthwhile to be suspicious of any notifications received by SMS or e—mail," he said. — We can expect a surge in the use of these schemes already during the May holidays, when the announced control of land use using drones will become possible.
But the peak of the "cottage" fraud, according to experts, will be in June, when the flowering of the hogweed begins.
What other schemes are used by scammers?
Hackers use any information reasons to attack Russians, said Nikita Novikov, a cybersecurity expert at Angara Security.
—Changes in legislation, the introduction of new fines for misuse of land, late registration of a house for cadastral registration or improper control of invasive plants are all a convenient excuse to contact the owners of the plots," the expert emphasized.
According to him, with the beginning of the holiday season, other reasons appear: scammers write to people, stating the need to repair infrastructure, restore summer plumbing or power grids damaged during the winter, cut down trees, pay non-existent debts, obtain consent to the processing of personal data by the chairman of the cooperative, or offer legal support to comply with new legal requirements.
"Owners of residential housing plots also regularly receive messages on behalf of alleged sales companies or local administrations," he added. — In the spring, owners of suburban real estate become a more vulnerable audience: many are just starting the holiday season, planning trips for the May holidays and do not always have up-to-date information about the situation on their plots.
In addition to "site fines", related scenarios on domestic and legal topics are actively used, said Kirill Levkin, MD Audit Project manager (Softline Group).
"For example, these are mailing lists about checking electricity meters or mandatory replacement of equipment with an offer to sign up via a link, as a result, the user leaves the data or pays for a fictitious service," he said. — Schemes with connection to preferential tariffs for electricity or water are popular, where they ask for an advance payment.
A separate area is pseudo—cadastral services: "clarifying the boundaries of the site", "urgent surveying" or "registration of buildings".
— There are also attacks through ads: attackers impersonate buyers or tenants and lure out card details or confirmation codes, — Kirill Levkin reminded.
There are also calls on behalf of the chairmen of the CHT using deepfake voices, Konstantin Larin added.
— In addition, attacks are likely through fake websites for paying fees and state fees for registration or renewal of land rights, — he said.
According to Nikita Novikov, in messengers, a victim can be added to a thematic chat where other "participants" are already present — members of the cooperative. This is followed by a request to confirm consent, cancel services, or participate in voting.
How the fines for summer residents have been tightened
In 2026, control over the condition of land plots was seriously strengthened, recalled Vladimir Kuznetsov, chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Mediators.
"Owners are required to control weeds and dangerous plants, and in 2026 this requirement became stricter, especially with regard to invasive species such as Sosnovsky hogweed," he recalled. — For non-compliance with these regulations, fines from 20 to 50 thousand rubles are provided for individuals.
The ash—leaved maple has also been added to the list of dangerous plants - its roots destroy foundations, it is a fire hazard, said Alexandra Kortysheva, General Director, cadastral engineer of Central Cadastral Agency LLC.
— And if the site is overgrown with ordinary grass over a meter in half of the area and this situation has not changed for more than a year, then it is considered unused, the fine is 1-1.5% of the cadastral value, — she specified. — This is at least 20 thousand rubles.
The changes also affected the rules for the use of open fire. To incinerate garbage or dry vegetation, it is necessary to dig a hole with a depth of at least 0.3 meters and a diameter of at least one meter. The distance from the buildings to the place of the fire should be at least 50 meters, and from coniferous trees — 100 meters, from deciduous trees — 30 meters.
— The use of barbecues is allowed at a distance of at least 5 meters from the buildings, — said Vladimir Kuznetsov. — Violation of these rules entails fines of 5-15 thousand rubles for citizens.
In conditions of a special fire protection regime, the amount of fines increases significantly — up to 10-20 thousand rubles or more, Alexandra Kortysheva added. In addition, during this period, kebabs are prohibited everywhere: in the forest, in the field, on the site. If a fire occurs due to the fault of the summer resident, criminal liability may occur.
And fines from 2 to 3 thousand rubles are provided for unauthorized garbage disposal.
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