In Russia, information technology is used in almost 40% of crimes. In the eleven months of 2024, this figure increased by 5%, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Most of these offenses go unpunished, as it is extremely difficult to catch fraudsters. They use many SIM cards and crypto wallets.
Almost half of such crimes (48.1%) fall into the categories of serious and especially serious crimes, four out of five crimes are committed using the Internet, and almost half are committed using mobile communications.
Almost two-thirds, or 63.7%, of such offenses are related to theft and fraud. Another 12.1% are committed for the purpose of illegal production, sale or transfer of drugs.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs recalled the creation of an integrated federal-level data bank called "Remote Fraud." It contains information about criminal cases related to fraud, extortion, and theft committed remotely.
In November 2024, more than 2,872,000 crimes were registered in the "Remote Fraud" subsystem. During the investigation, more than 5,000,000 means of communication, about 2,000,000 bank details, 2,800,000 individuals, more than 180,000 legal entities, 420,800 Internet resources and 116,700 electronic wallets were recorded.
What prevents catching criminals
Currently, interaction between credit institutions and the police in the field of information exchange in electronic format is carried out on a voluntary basis and requires prior agreement on all conditions between the parties.
The main obstacle to organizing the exchange of information in electronic form with credit and financial institutions is the lack of legal norms establishing the obligation to provide information at the request of internal affairs bodies in electronic form and in a short time.
Law enforcement officers are actively working to establish cooperation with banks, telecom operators and other market participants. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that agreements on information exchange have already been concluded with seven credit institutions and two mobile operators. Thanks to this, banks provide the necessary information within an hour or a day.
It is important to continue to actively use automated systems to track and analyze suspicious activity on the network, said Artem Sheikin, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building. One of the most important tasks is to raise public awareness of cybersecurity.
He proposed forming a specialized center for organizations working in the field of information technology and telecommunications. This center will perform functions similar to FinCERT for financial organizations.
FinCERT is a specialized unit of the Bank of Russia that ensures the exchange of information between financial market participants, law enforcement agencies, providers and telecom operators.
Information exchange about fraud facts can take place on a unified platform for combating fraud, which will accumulate data from the Antifraud and Antiphishing systems.
No one to blame?
Despite all the efforts of law enforcement agencies and financial institutions, it is extremely difficult to bring to justice those who commit crimes in the field of Internet fraud and the use of IT technologies. According to Igor Vakhromov, managing partner of the Protector law firm and member of the Association of Lawyers of Russia, the main difficulty lies in identifying the perpetrators.
The use by fraudsters of SIM cards registered to straw persons, bank cards for subsequent cashing out, programs for VPN connections and all kinds of services that allow you to leave no traces on the Internet is put on stream.
In 2024, only about 10-15% of cases were brought to court, he said. In most cases, the perpetrators were identified through direct contact with the criminals. For example, when the victim transferred money through a courier or the property was re-registered through the MFC and Rosreestr bodies.
These data do not give a complete picture, since citizens often face difficulties when submitting applications for crimes committed by unknown persons, or with refusals to initiate criminal cases, the lawyer added. This is due to the fact that in some cases, victims voluntarily transfer money or re-register property to other people.
In order for the investigation of cybercriminals' activities to be more effective, it is necessary to eliminate gaps in the legislation that allow gullible citizens to be deceived. This opinion was expressed by Igor Vakhromov. The creation of FinCERT made it possible to speed up the exchange of information about suspicious transactions. However, according to the lawyer, it is necessary to improve the mechanism and more actively involve the Ministry of Internal Affairs in this process.
Earlier it became known that hackers began touse bots to obtain one-time passwords, which allows them to effectively bypass two-factor authentication. They are able to simulate the process of entering a one-time password, which makes them 40% more effective than traditional phishing. Bederov noted that the effectiveness of hacking accounts using such bots reaches 60%, while with phishing this figure is only 18%.
In addition, over the past year, the number of cyberattacks on Russian companieshas increased 2.5 times compared to 2023 and reached 130 thousand. At the same time, most of the attacks were aimed at critical industrial and infrastructure facilities.
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