Who is more at risk of becoming a victim of cyber fraudsters and what is the typical portrait of a "digital swindler", how the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs managed to achieve a high detection rate of cybercrime and what advice the department gives to avoid risks in the digital environment, Deputy Head of the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Major General of Justice Danil Filippov, told RAPSI's Open Studio.
− Good afternoon." We are glad to welcome you to the Open Studio of RAPSI. Please tell us what is the current state of cybercrime? Are there any trends-growth or, on the contrary, decline?
− Good afternoon." First of all, thank you for the invitation. To begin with, over the past few years, there has been a noticeable trend towards an increase in crimes committed using information and telecommunications technologies or on the Internet. So, in 2023, this growth was 29.7%, and in quantitative terms it is almost 676 thousand crimes.
In addition, it should be noted that we have made some progress. We have identified 8.6% more people involved in this activity. In quantitative terms, this is 105,014 people. There are more crimes committed, but we also solve more of them.
Unfortunately, this year, in the first quarter, the trend has not changed: we recorded a new growth of 17.6% in quantitative terms. This is 179,228 crimes. But, just like last year, we identified 30.5% more people — just over 38 thousand people involved in these crimes. We identified them, exposed them, and sent criminal cases to the court.
− I am actively studying judicial practice and recently I have observed such a picture that it is very often possible to detain accomplices of telephone scammers, couriers who come for money, and dropers in hot pursuit. Please tell us how you managed to reach such a good indicator.
− Over the past few years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with other departments, has taken a number of organizational measures. In our system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, both investigative units and operational special units have been created that directly organize the detection and investigation of this type of crime. In particular, the Central Bank has adopted a number of organizational measures and laws that allow us to ensure effective interaction in terms of timely and rapid receipt of information on account movements.
And now, thanks to the coordination of the efforts of all the bodies that are involved, should counteract and organize the disclosure and investigation of this type of crime, we are reaching a certain positive trend. But at the same time, of course, the number of unsolved crimes remains significant.
− And who, as a rule, falls for the bait of cybercriminals? Is there a typical portrait of the victim?
− Yes, we have conducted such an analysis, and we are constantly conducting it, in order to understand the target audience with which we need to work, in order to inform exactly those people who are more affected and who are more exposed to such a risk of committing a crime. So, if you look at the victims, we see mostly urban residents. Well, that's obvious. Where there is more financial activity, there are more such crimes committed.
Fewer crimes are committed in rural areas than in urban areas. Criminals choose people with an average level of affluence — the solvent population, from whom you can extort something, get confidential information, or such persons on whom you can apply for a loan in a bank. It is obvious that people with low incomes are less likely to get a loan from a bank that will be stolen.
If you look at education, the victims are mostly people with secondary education. Slightly fewer people come across with higher education, but mostly people with secondary education prevail. For some reason, there are more women among the victims than men. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the way crimes are committed is aimed at influencing a person's emotions. Obviously, women are more affected by this effect than men. Here is an approximate portrait of the victim.
As for the criminals themselves, they are mostly males. Persons from 18 to 30 years of age. They can have both secondary and higher education. This is an average portrait of criminals.
− As a professional, perhaps you can give some advice: what steps must be taken to avoid becoming a victim of cyber fraud?
− In recent years, a lot of attention has been paid to this area, both by law enforcement agencies, banking structures and other financial organizations. I would focus mainly on these two points. The first rule, I call it "the rule from our childhood", when we tell our children that you can not talk to strangers. Exactly the same rule applies here. When a certain person calls you on the phone, introduces himself as an employee of law enforcement agencies or a banking structure, he is not familiar to you. In this case, we can even say that this is such a trigger, such words. If someone calls you and introduces themselves in this way − it's probably a scam.
First of all, you need to put down the phone and stop the conversation. And if you have any concerns, you need to call your bank back and ask if everything is in order. After this call, you will be sure that you don't need to take any more steps, and your money will remain safe.
The second rule that follows from the first one is these are the rules of banking services. Rules of conduct in the financial sector, they need to be clearly known. If a person carefully reads any banking service agreement, there is a banal thing written there: do not share your confidential information with anyone. These are codes, passwords, and everything else. This is the second rule. You must strictly follow the rules that the bank has established with its client. Simple logic is included here. If you comply with the banking rules, the rules of banking services, and do not share with anyone the information that you are obliged not to share, in case your money is stolen from the bank in some way, then the bank will be responsible. And it will compensate you for the losses that you have suffered. This should be clearly known and understood.
Again, I'll give you an analogy like this. If a person walks on the street after payday, a previously unknown citizen comes up to him and says: listen, you received your salary today, can I have your wallet, I'll bury it somewhere, and in a month I'll give it to you in the same place. Obviously, the person will suspect something is wrong and will not give the wallet with the money. But when a phone call occurs, the fraudster introduces himself as a law enforcement officer or a financial organization, and the victim doesn't even see him, just hears him. He tells him some scary stories about how your account may be blocked and so on.
And for some reason, without seeing or knowing this person, the victim takes and passes him either codes, or voluntarily transfers funds to the specified accounts unknown to anyone. Therefore, these two basic rules must be observed. Do not talk to strangers and follow the security rules established by bank agreements.
− I'd probably add double-check."..
− Of course, it is necessary to put down the phone and double-check the information that you received in a calm environment. Pretexts for committing a crime can be different. They can be listed, and no interview will be enough to list everything that we record. There are a thousand of them. And bonuses, winnings, sweepstakes, fabulous profits, phone blocking, and so on. You can come up with a lot of excuses. You need to include a cold mind, a cold mind. Hang up, call back, and ask.
− Good afternoon." We are glad to welcome you to the Open Studio of RAPSI. Please tell us what is the current state of cybercrime? Are there any trends-growth or, on the contrary, decline?
− Good afternoon." First of all, thank you for the invitation. To begin with, over the past few years, there has been a noticeable trend towards an increase in crimes committed using information and telecommunications technologies or on the Internet. So, in 2023, this growth was 29.7%, and in quantitative terms it is almost 676 thousand crimes.
In addition, it should be noted that we have made some progress. We have identified 8.6% more people involved in this activity. In quantitative terms, this is 105,014 people. There are more crimes committed, but we also solve more of them.
Unfortunately, this year, in the first quarter, the trend has not changed: we recorded a new growth of 17.6% in quantitative terms. This is 179,228 crimes. But, just like last year, we identified 30.5% more people — just over 38 thousand people involved in these crimes. We identified them, exposed them, and sent criminal cases to the court.
− I am actively studying judicial practice and recently I have observed such a picture that it is very often possible to detain accomplices of telephone scammers, couriers who come for money, and dropers in hot pursuit. Please tell us how you managed to reach such a good indicator.
− Over the past few years, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with other departments, has taken a number of organizational measures. In our system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, both investigative units and operational special units have been created that directly organize the detection and investigation of this type of crime. In particular, the Central Bank has adopted a number of organizational measures and laws that allow us to ensure effective interaction in terms of timely and rapid receipt of information on account movements.
And now, thanks to the coordination of the efforts of all the bodies that are involved, should counteract and organize the disclosure and investigation of this type of crime, we are reaching a certain positive trend. But at the same time, of course, the number of unsolved crimes remains significant.
− And who, as a rule, falls for the bait of cybercriminals? Is there a typical portrait of the victim?
− Yes, we have conducted such an analysis, and we are constantly conducting it, in order to understand the target audience with which we need to work, in order to inform exactly those people who are more affected and who are more exposed to such a risk of committing a crime. So, if you look at the victims, we see mostly urban residents. Well, that's obvious. Where there is more financial activity, there are more such crimes committed.
Fewer crimes are committed in rural areas than in urban areas. Criminals choose people with an average level of affluence — the solvent population, from whom you can extort something, get confidential information, or such persons on whom you can apply for a loan in a bank. It is obvious that people with low incomes are less likely to get a loan from a bank that will be stolen.
If you look at education, the victims are mostly people with secondary education. Slightly fewer people come across with higher education, but mostly people with secondary education prevail. For some reason, there are more women among the victims than men. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the way crimes are committed is aimed at influencing a person's emotions. Obviously, women are more affected by this effect than men. Here is an approximate portrait of the victim.
As for the criminals themselves, they are mostly males. Persons from 18 to 30 years of age. They can have both secondary and higher education. This is an average portrait of criminals.
− As a professional, perhaps you can give some advice: what steps must be taken to avoid becoming a victim of cyber fraud?
− In recent years, a lot of attention has been paid to this area, both by law enforcement agencies, banking structures and other financial organizations. I would focus mainly on these two points. The first rule, I call it "the rule from our childhood", when we tell our children that you can not talk to strangers. Exactly the same rule applies here. When a certain person calls you on the phone, introduces himself as an employee of law enforcement agencies or a banking structure, he is not familiar to you. In this case, we can even say that this is such a trigger, such words. If someone calls you and introduces themselves in this way − it's probably a scam.
First of all, you need to put down the phone and stop the conversation. And if you have any concerns, you need to call your bank back and ask if everything is in order. After this call, you will be sure that you don't need to take any more steps, and your money will remain safe.
The second rule that follows from the first one is these are the rules of banking services. Rules of conduct in the financial sector, they need to be clearly known. If a person carefully reads any banking service agreement, there is a banal thing written there: do not share your confidential information with anyone. These are codes, passwords, and everything else. This is the second rule. You must strictly follow the rules that the bank has established with its client. Simple logic is included here. If you comply with the banking rules, the rules of banking services, and do not share with anyone the information that you are obliged not to share, in case your money is stolen from the bank in some way, then the bank will be responsible. And it will compensate you for the losses that you have suffered. This should be clearly known and understood.
Again, I'll give you an analogy like this. If a person walks on the street after payday, a previously unknown citizen comes up to him and says: listen, you received your salary today, can I have your wallet, I'll bury it somewhere, and in a month I'll give it to you in the same place. Obviously, the person will suspect something is wrong and will not give the wallet with the money. But when a phone call occurs, the fraudster introduces himself as a law enforcement officer or a financial organization, and the victim doesn't even see him, just hears him. He tells him some scary stories about how your account may be blocked and so on.
And for some reason, without seeing or knowing this person, the victim takes and passes him either codes, or voluntarily transfers funds to the specified accounts unknown to anyone. Therefore, these two basic rules must be observed. Do not talk to strangers and follow the security rules established by bank agreements.
− I'd probably add double-check."..
− Of course, it is necessary to put down the phone and double-check the information that you received in a calm environment. Pretexts for committing a crime can be different. They can be listed, and no interview will be enough to list everything that we record. There are a thousand of them. And bonuses, winnings, sweepstakes, fabulous profits, phone blocking, and so on. You can come up with a lot of excuses. You need to include a cold mind, a cold mind. Hang up, call back, and ask.
