Scammers are tricking Nizhny Novgorod residents out of money using social engineering.

      Fraud schemes are being adapted by criminals to fit the current agenda.

      Scammers are increasingly resorting to social engineering in order to deceive residents of Nizhny Novgorod. The news agency Vremya N was told in detail about the active schemes used by fraudsters and the consequences of their actions by Natalya Khalezova, the author of the financial education project “You Can’t Fool Me!”, a member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Nizhny Novgorod and of the expert council on improving financial literacy in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

      According to her, October shows a positive trend in the amount of damage caused by scammers. The total sum of transfers sharply fell after the historical peak of 114 million rubles in a week and has been holding at the level of 43–48 million rubles per week, if one refers to police data. However, as the expert noted, many factors affect the statistics that are simply impossible to predict.

      “The dynamics of the damage are jumpy. There are different calculations — from the police, the Bank of Russia. Some victims do not file reports with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so it can be assumed that the real damage is greater than the published figures. You should contact law enforcement in any case, because this may help detain the courier with the money, cancel transfers, identify the dropper from whom the transferred sum can later be recovered, and find the fraudster. Statistics are a complicated thing, but we track spikes and drops, trends. Now the amount of damage from scammers’ activities in the Nizhny Novgorod region has fallen to the level of summer 2024,” Natalya Khalezova said.

      Recently, various measures have been adopted across Russia that limit the actions of fraudsters, hinder their ability to reach citizens by phone, launder criminal proceeds, protect Russians from illegal loans, and so on. For example, as of March 1, 2025, residents of Nizhny Novgorod gained the ability to set a self-ban on credits and loans through Gosuslugi.

      “It is important to understand that a self-ban is a good protection tool, but not a panacea. It should be combined with careful handling of personal data, critical thinking when communicating with strangers, and adherence to financial hygiene measures,” the agency interlocutor clarified.

      In addition, there is currently large-scale preventive work underway across the country, including in our region: people are warned about the actions of scammers and ways to protect their savings. Meetings, lessons, and talks are being held. Incidentally, it is worth noting that Nizhny Novgorod received the status of “Capital of Financial Culture” in 2025, and 11,500 financial literacy events have already been held in the region.

      Scammers regularly introduce new schemes and update old ones to match the current agenda. Now, in the cold-and-flu season, perpetrators don white coats and pose as doctors — this is a novelty. Under the pretext of updating patient records and confirming attachment to a clinic, they ask people to provide the code from an SMS.

      “Previously, scammers sent messages from ‘Gosuslugi’ about an alleged technical glitch and detachment from a clinic: to continue receiving medical care under the mandatory medical insurance system (OMS), a person had to follow a link and reattach. Now they call, ask to update the data, and then ask for the code. The scammers’ approach has changed. If before they hacked accounts, used technologies and various software tools, now they rely more on social engineering,” the financial education project author shared.

      Social engineering is a set of psychological manipulation methods. “Scammer-psychologists” make victims disclose confidential information, perform actions that run counter to their own interests, frighten, rush, and threaten. The victim voluntarily gives money to the fraudsters, sells property, takes out loans.

      “Scammers can send you a code from a fake website to lure you into a trap. For them, the digits the victim reads out from an SMS are the key, the entry ticket. But then the criminals work on you: they intimidate, escalate the situation, say that a loan or a power of attorney has been issued, that finances are under threat. After that, citizens themselves take out loans, even sell apartments, give away very large sums just to save themselves and their savings. The average amount of damage per person now exceeds one million rubles. And, according to police data, this is more often not loan money but money from the sale of property. In haste, Nizhny Novgorod residents enter into allegedly fictitious transactions to save real estate, and end up without housing. This is the trend of 2025. Another dangerous trend is when sales transactions of deceived victims’ real estate are contested in court, and the buyers — who had no idea the seller was under the influence of fraudsters — appear as the victims,” added the member of the Public Council at the city police.

      Another innovation: previously scammers would install an intercom and ask for the SMS code, but now they penetrate apartment building chats, pretend to be chairpersons of homeowners’ associations (TSZH) or building managers, and coax residents into providing information, passport photos, Gosuslugi codes, or ask them to follow phishing links.

      The already well-known schemes have not disappeared. As we reported earlier, between October 15 and 22 law enforcement registered 52 cases of fraud following calls from a “bank security service,” six related to offers of extra earnings, and thirteen during online purchases. Scammers continue to call about extending communication contracts, though now they claim this is caused by temporary internet blocks.

      “Attacks on children and teenagers are widespread. The youngest victim is 8–9 years old. This has never happened before. Scammers threaten minors that criminal cases have allegedly been opened against their adults, so they must give money to a courier. Once a young girl from Nizhny Novgorod gave fraudsters her father’s safe. Children are deceived in games, forced to transfer their parents’ savings while the parents sleep. Teenagers are lured into schemes for laundering criminal money: their cards and messenger accounts are rented from them, they are asked to carry out criminal tasks. And there is now criminal liability for all these actions. Different categories of victims are targeted with different schemes. Scammers use leaked databases, test the waters. They often act deliberately, understanding whom they are calling,” Khalezova warned.

      Recall that last summer Russia partially restricted calls in foreign messengers. As reported on the official website of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, this decision by Roskomnadzor “could positively affect the reduction in the number of fraudulent calls.”

      Author: Natalya Malyugina