The Ministry of Internal Affairs explained who becomes a cybercriminal and why the phenomenon is difficult to defeat

“The main crime moves from the “street” to the “digital”, because there no willpower is needed to commit it. Cybercriminals treat breaches as a game – an opportunity to make money, a kind of “entrepreneurship”, which is why there is currently an unprecedented increase in ICT crimes. Digital makes life convenient, but it also opens up wide opportunities for theft of funds. Having a mobile phone and an online account of any bank automatically turns a person into a potential victim of cyber fraudsters,” commented the head of the Department for Combating the Illegal Use of Information and Communication Technologies of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Police Major General Philip NEMOV.

Among the main channels for committing crimes, the expert mentioned coordination between call centers and the ability to manage bank accounts remotely.

“To change the rules of the game in our favor, and not in favor of criminals, the Antifraud system was deployed under the jurisdiction of the Main Radio Frequency Center (GRFC). It is needed to combat telephone fraud, with calls from spoofed numbers. Currently, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Digital Development and market participants are discussing the creation of another anti-fraud platform – for the joint work of banks and telecom operators: there is no legislative regulation of the exchange of information between them. Banks support the creation of the platform. Operators are less enthusiastic, they only talk cautiously about “information interaction”, for fear of losing the income now coming from banks for providing data,” Nemov noted.

In addition to financial losses, citizens who have been subjected to cyber attacks may suffer psychological trauma. That is why, the expert added, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs work closely with scientists and medical practitioners, especially psychiatrists, to draw up portraits of people most susceptible to cyber attacks.

“Keep an eye on your relatives and close friends, doctors advise. When a person begins to perform actions that are uncharacteristic for him, borrows large sums of money, constantly calls banks or receives alerts from them, he may have become a victim of fraud. Cyber ​​attacks, as a rule, are successful when the impact on citizens is carried out with the aim of assisting law enforcement agencies, in order to identify crimes by employees of the banking industry. Fraudsters, under the guise of “employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the FSB,” immerse a person in some kind of secret. The number of cybercrimes committed on this topic indicates that citizens are willing to make contact and want to help law enforcement officers. Plus, on the side of the criminals there are very good psychologists who use reference points in the public consciousness: stable ideas about “corruption schemes of dishonest bankers,” Nemov explained.

According to an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to effectively prevent and repel cyber attacks, work should be done in two directions: difficulties in communication between attackers and victims and careful control over the accounts of attackers.

“A person must be confident in himself: if he refuses any request from scammers over the phone, his life will not change. But if he agrees, he will lose colossal sums, or even, in the worst case scenario, he will end up behind bars,” Nemov concluded.

A number of experts are confident that the weakest link is still the state.

“It is necessary to work at the state level: to form a clear legislative framework for the interaction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the Central Bank and the Ministry of Digital Development, as well as cellular operators – to send information to citizens through them according to the protocol of official interaction. I positively assess the law adopted by the State Duma on the self-prohibition of citizens from applying for bank loans, which will come into force on March 1, 2025. To enable the mechanism, you will need to record a special ban in your credit history through the State Services portal or in the MFC. It is enough to fill out a template application, selecting the desired conditions of the ban. This service will be free and unlimited in the number of calls. I would also like to note that 95% of the thefts of funds from citizens by cybercriminals are carried out not from the territory of the Russian Federation, and although law enforcement agencies manage to “reach out” to the infrastructure that helps commit crimes, I propose to raise this issue to the level of the Russian Security Council,” the chairman suggested Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Anatoly Kucherena.

As Konstantin Remchukov, a member of the presidium of the Public Council under the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, emphasized, the main danger is posed by clones of pages. The level of fraudsters allows them to duplicate the voice of the account owner, which increases the chances of a successful cyber attack.

“An important detail is that a significant part of Russian cybercriminals are teenagers aged 16-18 years. They share information with parents about acquiring new skills, and for them this can be a wake-up call. It is necessary to deepen the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with schools on the prevention of cybercrime,” added Remchukov.

In general, the basis for cyber fraud is spam calls. “One of the laws that the State Duma needs to adopt soon is administrative, and if brought to administrative liability three times, criminal liability for “cold calling,” so-called advertising spam calls. Many friendly countries have positive experience in combating spam: as practice shows, the problem ceases to be a problem when companies engaged in such “business” receive the first news from law enforcement agencies. I think society will say a big thank you to the deputy who comes up with such an initiative. For my part, I am ready to take an active part in the development of this bill,” calls on former member of the HRC, lawyer Shota Gorgadze.