According to ASTRA, on the morning of August 29, Alina, a resident of Moscow, received a call from a fake employee of the Russian Post. The caller claimed that Alina had received a registered letter, and in order to have it delivered by a courier, she needed to provide a code that would be sent via SMS.
Half an hour later, Alina received another call, this time from the State Services website. The “employee” told the girl that the scammers had gained access to her account, and in order to prevent fraud, she needed to provide information about the amount of money in her accounts. Then, an alleged “employee of Rosfinmonitoring” spoke to Alina and convinced her to switch to the “MAX” messenger. He warned her that she would receive a call from the Federal Security Service. After that, Alina received a video call from a supposed security officer at Max. According to the girl, the man was wearing a white shirt with epaulets, and there was a Russian flag and a portrait of Putin in the background. The “FSB officer” threatened Alina that if she did not “declare” her funds, they would be confiscated. Following the instructions of the scammers, Alina withdrew 591,000 rubles and handed the money to a stranger in Moscow City. The police are conducting an investigation.
Prior to this, MTS operator analysts reported on the activity of fraudsters in Max. On August 17, the first case of fraud using Max was recorded in St. Petersburg. A pensioner was persuaded to install the Russian messenger, after which she met with couriers and lost 2.5 million rubles.
Earlier, Roskomnadzor announced that it had restricted calls on Telegram and WhatsApp “to counter criminals.” According to the Ministry of Digital Development, the decision by Roskomnadzor to restrict voice calls on Telegram and WhatsApp could have a positive impact on reducing the number of fraudulent calls. According to official data from the Central Bank, most scammers in 2024 used cellular phone calls and SMS to deceive their victims, three times more often than in messaging apps.
