Services on request – Newspaper Kommersant No. 227 (7428) dated 07.12.2022

The appearance of another service for processing photos Lensa from the developers of the once popular Prisma captivated not only my friends and colleagues who changed their avatars in the banned social network to pictures in the style of anime and superheroes, but also more enterprising Russians. So, on Avito they began to offer photo processing – dozens of ads have been registered in recent days. The service costs from 50 to 700 rubles. depending on the number of processed images.

The fact is that Lensa takes about 270 rubles. for 50 photos, and taking into account the restrictions imposed by Google Pay for users from the Russian Federation, not everyone is able to pay. MTS and VimpelCom subscribers can do this from their mobile account. But my colleague and I could not quickly arrange payment, it turned out to be easier to ask a friend for whom she worked. He, of course, helped out of friendship. However, around such seemingly simple and unimportant fashion trends, a whole market seems to have begun to take shape.

After talking with sellers on Avito, we found out that the demand among citizens who do not want to deal with blocking bypasses is great: “Dozens of people write a day, although they themselves can take such photos.” Moreover, if in the case of Lensa, some not quite trivial skills and investments are required from the “seller”, then, for example, the Different Dimension Me neural network of the Chinese QQ application (owned by Tencent), which can turn you into an anime character, does it completely free. Meanwhile, some sellers from Avito do not even hide the fact that they use this particular tool.

The increase in sanctions and blocking of services after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine has led to a significant increase in demand for such consumer technology services. And it’s not just about installing a pirated version of Windows.

Back in the summer, sellers of PlayStation Store access vouchers intended for Poland, Turkey and other countries appeared on Avito and Ozon, as well as instructions for activating them. In the autumn, private traders became more active, providing services for transferring or installing on smartphones applications of banks that fell under sanctions and were removed from the App Store, using a mechanism that anyone can master. There are, of course, complex services – for example, the list of “computer assistance” services includes the installation of trusted certificates of the Ministry of Digital Transformation for access to Sberbank, Gosuslug and other sites.

While the market is chaotic, real and essentially imaginary services are mixed here with a considerable share of direct fraud. But if Russia’s isolation from developed markets drags on, a new segment has a chance to take shape. Distributors and sellers of electronics are already looking in this direction. So citizens who want to make money on the laziness or ineptitude of their neighbors should hurry up.