Kuzbass Residents Lose 10.5M Rubles to Scammers in a Week: Top Schemes

Scammers in Kuzbass are calling residents while posing as government agency officials, leading to losses of millions of rubles in a single week, according to the regional prosecutor's office.

Feb 6, 2026

Threats are a primary tactic used by scammers in their schemes targeting residents.
Source:
Kirill Poverinov / 76.RU

Over the past week, around 60 residents of the region have fallen victim to internet fraud. The regional prosecutor«s office reported on Saturday, 24 January 2025, that Kuzbass residents lost 10,565,000 rubles (approximately $117,400 at current rates) due to online scammers.

According to the agency, 58 people lost their money to digital fraud over the week. One resident of Mezhdurechensk lost the most: 1,412,000 rubles (approximately $15,700).

A woman allegedly received a call from a delivery service courier who asked for an SMS code to confirm a parcel. However, the call was blocked due to fraud suspicions.

Then, the local resident started getting calls from the «Roskomnadzor hotline,» informing her that her account on the Gosuslugi portal had been hacked. Upon checking, it turned out that her account had a power of attorney issued to a stranger, allowing banking operations.

Then the «Roskomnadzor specialists» began threatening her with criminal prosecution for supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and convinced her to withdraw all her money to transfer it to a supposedly safe account, promising to return the money after a check, after which they stopped contacting her.

Earlier, NGS42.RU reported how a resident of Novokuznetsk stole money from her neighbors. In total, she embezzled over four million rubles (approximately $44,400). The outlet also reported how much money Kuzbass residents handed over to scammers at the end of last year.