Nizhny Novgorod Residents Scammed for 3 Billion Rubles

Since the beginning of 2025, scammers have defrauded residents of Nizhny Novgorod region of more than 3 billion rubles (about $33.3 million at current rates). Over 12,000 crimes have been registered, committed using IT technologies and social engineering methods. Artem Bordyug — deputy head of the department for combating unlawful use of information and communication technologies at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the region — explained the most common schemes and how to protect against them. The press conference took place on 4 December 2025 at the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Information Center.

Phone Fraud

Scammers call (or write to) the victim and introduce themselves as employees of some agency — FSB, prosecutor«s office, banks. Then they intimidate, convince to perform financial operations, such as transferring money to a «safe account». This scheme also includes calls from «mobile operators» offering to re-sign the service contract for the number.

«The contract for owning a subscriber number is concluded indefinitely. If you hear such words, it«s fraud. Signs of fraud are marker words. The most obvious marker that should raise red flags is „safe account“. They might tell you that a criminal case has been initiated against you (now it»s popular about financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine), suspicious operations are occurring on your account, or scammers may offer protection from fraud,» explained Artem Bordyug.

According to the police officer, one should not be afraid to interrupt scammers.

«[They use] methods of psychological pressure. People on the phone speak very quickly, intentionally not giving an opportunity to ask again, check information, call relatives and loved ones to consult. The situation is escalated from their side, adding situations that cause fear — fear of losing money or property,» noted the police major.

What to do: end the call (you can also enable the «Antispam» service).

Fake (Phishing) Websites

Scammers create websites that look similar to sites of popular stores, cultural institutions, government platforms. People mistake them for real ones: pay for orders but receive nothing. In the case of fake «Gosuslugi» (State Services), criminals gain access to the victim«s account.

What to do:

«In this situation, you need to carefully examine the website, starting with its domain name. There are no different websites with identical names. Scammers take advantage by doubling some letters or adding symbols that the eye might not catch. <…> There are many services on the internet that check this information: you can enter the information and see when the site was created,» said Artem Bordyug.

Another feature of phishing — links to fake sites can be sent in personal messages. Do not click on unfamiliar links.

Stock Market Games and Trading

Offers from scammers sound something like this: «invest a ruble — withdraw 10 thousand». People see tempting advertisements online, transfer money and get nothing.

What to do:

«If you decide to engage in such passive income, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with reviews of the platform where you want to play. You also need to know how to work with reviews. There are independent review sites where absolutely all reviews written by people are published,» noted the police officer.

Borrowing Money

Criminals hack a user«s account and send messages to their friends asking to transfer money, attaching a fraudulent card number.

What to do: don«t rush, call the person from whom the suspicious message came.

Relative in a Car Accident

As a rule, elderly people are called by their «relatives» (actually scammers) and told that they have caused a car accident. After that, they ask for money to make amends to the victims. The scheme is old and known, but still used and works.

Lately, according to Bordyug, scammers have started using «deepfake» technology, which allows voice substitution.

What to do: don«t panic, call that very relative.

Theft on Marketplaces

Fraudsters register a shop on an internet platform, post advertisements. People pay for goods but do not receive them. After that, the dummy shop disappears.

What to do: study the shops (pay attention to their creation date), also their distinguishing feature — 100% prepayment.

Boss Asks for Assistance

The «manager» (first scammer) warns the victim about a call from «law enforcement agencies» and asks to assist them. The second scammer then asks to perform financial operations, such as putting money into a «safe account» or «declaring» it — handing over cash to a courier.

As a rule, in such cases, deepfake is used — the victim is sent a video with a person very similar to their manager.

What to do:

«Do not be shy to ask such a boss (fake boss. — Ed.) to touch their face with their hands — this is the most effective way. Either the mask will disappear, or the hand will disappear under the face. Everything will fall into place,» explained the police officer.

Smartphone Infection

Scammers hack the phone, gain access to the user«s accounts. Then they send malicious files to their contacts and steal their data.

What to do:

«Pay attention to who wrote to you. You might have a contact in your phone with whom you haven«t corresponded in a long time or never corresponded. And they write „Hello,“ as if you saw each other yesterday, and ask if it»s you in the photo. After that, they attach an archive supposedly with photos, but in reality it«s a virus,» said the police major.

Remember, do not click on unfamiliar links.

What to do if you«re hacked:

«The first sign [of phone hacking] — a person sees that they are logged out of all messengers. There might be a pause for some time. This time can take several months. On a technical level, what happened: you infected the phone, the virus starts collecting information about logins and passwords of all accounts and sending them to the scammer«s control server. They will use this data when they deem it necessary.

But if after clicking on the file, the desired result did not occur (you didn«t see any photos) and you were logged out of the messenger. The first thing to do is put the phone in airplane mode. After that, contact the police. If the contents of the phone are not very valuable, you can reset it to factory settings,» noted Artem Bordyug.