Over the eight months of this year, Roskomnadzor (RKN) blocked 456 million fraudulent calls, Vedomosti reported, citing information from the regulator. To block calls from substitute numbers, the automated Antifraud system, created by RKN in 2022, is used, to which operators owning 99.6% of the numbers are connected. Last year, more than 750 million calls were blocked with its help.
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In their activities, criminals use gray SIM cards without an identified owner. Since August 2023, RKN has been requesting information about numbers from operators. According to the regulator, for the period from November 2023 to September 2024, 93.9 million violations in the reliability of information about subscribers were identified, of which 85.7 million were eliminated. 6.2 million SIM cards have had their contracts terminated or blocked, and 2 million are still under investigation. Violations include lack of confirmation of the accuracy of subscriber information, incorrect filling of fields in the database and insufficient data. “Updating information about subscribers is precisely necessary to prevent crime, including fraud,” a RKN representative explained to Vedomosti.
According to operators, the most common fraud scheme now is notifying the subscriber that his SIM card is supposedly about to expire. It accounts for about 90% of customer requests to the rapid response group related to contract renewals, a Beeline representative said. In this case, it should be remembered that the contract for the provision of mobile communication services with individuals is unlimited, the operators noted. Although, if the subscriber does not use communication services and does not pay for them within 90 calendar days, the operator may terminate the contract.
Also common among fraudsters is a method of deception such as calls from supposedly a bank representative, a Megafon representative said. According to the Central Bank, in the second quarter of 2024, fraudsters stole 4.8 billion rubles, which is a record in the entire history of observations. 97.2% of this amount was theft from citizens’ accounts. Before this, 4.3 billion rubles were stolen in the first quarter. The share of returned funds in the second quarter fell to 6.1% from 9.7% on average over the previous four quarters.
Representatives of MTS and Beeline also named registration at a clinic through Gosuslugi, recalculation of pensions, medical examinations, and discounts on housing and communal services payments among scammers who use telephone deception schemes that are popular. All these schemes use social engineering methods, which are now the most common among all types of fraud, noted Konstantin Gorbunov, a leading expert on network threats and web developer of the Security Code. According to the Central Bank, in the second quarter of 2024, about 20 thousand attacks using social engineering methods were recorded, which is 95% of the total.
According to the expert, several signs can help identify a fraudster. Firstly, a real employee will not require an urgent decision. Secondly, employees of banks and mobile operators never use instant messengers to call a client. You should also think about it if the call comes from an unfamiliar mobile number or is not detected.
If you suspect that an attacker is calling, it is recommended to immediately end the conversation and call back the official support number of your telecom operator or bank for clarification.