In the past two months, phone scammers have increasingly used children to steal money from their parents' bank accounts. The number of such attacks has increased fivefold. This was reported by specialists from F6, a leading developer of technologies for combating cybercrime.
In February 2025, experts recorded about 600 such attacks, which is almost five times more than in December 2024. The average amount of damage from fraudulent activities was 80 thousand rubles. The age of children affected by these attacks ranged from 10 to 14 years.
To begin, the attackers make contact with children. Most often, they become acquainted in game chats, but there are also common cases when they call through messengers, posing, for example, as delivery service employees.
The attackers seek to gain access to the personal online banking account of the parents. It is noteworthy that such attacks usually occur at night when adults are asleep.
Scammers try to gain access to banking applications through children, asking them to put their parent's finger on the phone screen or peek at the password. Then they demand to make a money transfer.
To force a child to comply with their demands, criminals may use various methods, including intimidation and blackmail, experts warn.
To protect your child from fraud, experts recommend adhering to the following rules:
- Talk to children about cybersecurity.
- Set up parental controls on the child's gadgets.
- Explain to the child how to behave properly in online games.
- Teach children to recognize the signs of fraud.
- Understand the dangers of communicating with strangers and explain this to the child.
- Pay attention to the child's emotional state.
Earlier www1.ru reported that scammers have become more active, using the popularity of the online game Roblox, where children and teenagers create their virtual worlds, earn in-game money, and communicate with each other. Criminals offer players to purchase the in-game currency Robux at a reduced price, but not through the official store. To do this, they ask for information about the parents' bank cards.
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