Why mobile phone becomes a weapon and how to deal with scammers
In 2023 alone, telephone scammers stole 16 billion rubles from Russians, the Central Bank says. At the same time, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this amount reaches 160 billion rubles, and according to experts — even 250-300 billion. Such an active activity of scammers has also led to an active reaction — from January 1, 2025, large-scale amendments to the law on communications will gradually come into force. How new introductions will help to deal with intruders was discussed at a press conference on 9 October. Read the details in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
6 million fraudulent calls per day
More than 260 Russians have registered over a thousand “gray” SIM cards. This was stated at a press conference by Deputy Chairman of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy at the Federation Council Artem Sheikin.
"265 people own more than a hundred SIM cards, and this is only more than 1,000 SIM cards. That is, imagine, it's more than 1 million cards. As one city, we do not have such a large number of million-plus cities. A whole city of fake SIM cards," he stressed.
According to him, the owners of “gray” SIM cards “hide” behind non-existent subscribers: they enter incorrect passport data or invent them.
“Thus, it is just impossible for law enforcement agencies to find people who use these SIM cards. We constantly receive a large number of calls allegedly from the FSB and the interior ministry. They come from the owners of the “gray” cards," Sheikin said.
The speaker also cited statistics: according to the Central Bank, in 2023, fraudsters stole 16 billion rubles from Russians. However, the figures cited by the ministry of internal affairs exceed this value tenfold. At the same time, experts even talk about amounts of 250-300 billion rubles.
At the beginning of 2024, according to Beber, the number of fraudulent calls to subscriber numbers reached 20 million per day. By now, the number has been reduced to 6 million per day, said Sergey Veligodsky, director of the anti-fraud department of the bank. Of these, 60% fall on the telephone method, and 40% on messengers.
Let us remind that Roskomnadzor blocked 456 million malicious calls in the first 8 months of 2024 using the anti-fraud system, which blocks such calls. Such fraudulent scheme works using “gray” SIM cards. According to Roskomnadzor, 6.2 million such SIM cards have already been blocked in Russia since the beginning of 2024.
Drugs and weapons are being trafficked through the “gray” SIM cards
Scammers are not the only ones who use “gray” SIM cards. According to Sheikin, drug and arms trafficking also goes through them. Moreover, they can also be used by foreign services to recruit Russians.
This, by the way, explains the difference in the limit on the number of SIM cards per person. Starting from 2025, every Russian citizen will also be able to issue no more than 20 SIM cards, and a foreigner — no more than 10.
“Restrictions related to the number of SIM cards for foreign citizens are related to this, because it is more difficult to identify a foreigner than a Russian citizen," explained Sheikin.
He also recalled that a number of amendments to the laws on communications included the complication of the process of obtaining SIM cards. So, Russians are required to come to the operator's office in person and present their passport. Foreigners, in addition, are required to undergo biometrics.
New requirements for operators are also made. Before providing services, they undertake to check the number of SIM cards issued to the subscriber, verify the accuracy of information about him in all databases and, after signing the contract, send the data to Gosuslugi to notify the client about the new card. On Gosuslugi, it will be possible to track the number of SIM cards registered on a citizen.
“The importance of mobile phones and SIM cards has been growing lately. They have long been used by us as a kind of identifier. The phone has become for us not just a means of communication, but a wallet or even a passport. For scammers, it has become a weapon," Sheikin stressed.