As July begins, fraudsters are actively leveraging seasonal opportunities to deceive Russian citizens. They are collecting money for fictitious courtyard improvement projects, creating fake festival tickets, and pretending to be employees of the “Unified Gosuslugi Aggregator.” The “Moshelovka” platform of the Popular Front issued this warning about these prevalent schemes.
Experts identified other tactics as well. For instance, swindlers are promising university applicants “guaranteed admission” in exchange for bribes and are promoting questionable air conditioner repair services during hot weather. The platform`s press service added, “Combine this with phony gym memberships, `free` tours that require forced purchases, and counterfeit travel insurance, and the landscape of summer fraud becomes alarmingly apparent.”
Regarding the fake improvement scheme, criminals set up fraudulent chat groups, post messages about purportedly urgent fundraising for home or courtyard improvements, and then delete the chats and vanish after collecting money. With fake insurance, swindlers use attractive pricing and aggressive marketing to draw people in. The victim receives a policy from a non-existent insurance company, and all subsequent complaints and inquiries are ignored.
Previously, Russians who engage with fraudsters were cautioned against doing so. Experts warn that during conversations, criminals can gather significant information about the person they are talking to. According to Sergey Zolotukhin, an expert at F6, fraudsters can record a person`s voice and subsequently use it for fake calls.
