Nizhny Novgorod residents were informed about the tricks of scammers before September 1.

      On August 28, 2026, 17:31 Society Scammers, when calling children and teenagers in Nizhny Novgorod, most often impersonate employees of government agencies, postal services, delivery services, and marketplaces. They may also present themselves as workers from telecommunications operators, military enlistment offices, pension and social services, as well as municipal and financial organizations. Often, the goal of such calls is to involve minors in dubious earning schemes or to convince them of the necessity to urgently perform financial actions.

      As shown by a joint study by MTS and Positive Technologies, dedicated to the safety of children and parents in phone calls and the internet ahead of September 1, criminals are increasingly using the same legends in conversations with children as they do in attacks on adults. The main communication channel for such fraudulent attempts remains phone calls, accounting for 43% of cases.

      The most vulnerable group consists of children aged 11-14 years (42.5% of recorded episodes). In second place are teenagers aged 15-17 years, who accounted for 36.8% of calls. One-fifth of the cases (or 20.7%) involved children aged 6-10 years.

      Such calls most often occur on weekdays when a child may be left without direct adult supervision and can answer the call independently. The most active period is Thursday from 10:00 to 12:00.

      One of the main methods of influencing children is game mechanics. In 36.4% of cases, scammers promise free currency or rare items in online games, trying to gain access to parents' payment data. Another 27.3% of fraudulent scenarios are based on the child's desire to "save their parents." In 18.2% of cases, scammers convince minors that danger threatens them personally. Another 7.6% of schemes are related to offers of illegal earnings.

      At the same time, the child often becomes not the ultimate target for scammers but a means to reach the entire family. Through them, criminals attempt to gain access to bank cards, accounts, and other important data. According to analysts, in about every tenth gaming attack, the matter reaches the point of applying for a loan in the parents' name.

      A separate threat to teenagers is "dropping." Under the guise of "easy side jobs," they are offered to provide their card, accept someone else's money on it, and then transfer it further for a percentage.

      Before September 1, scammers are not so much inventing new ways to deceive as they are adapting already known scenarios to the school agenda. The targets are not only children but also parents. This is what scammers take advantage of, embedding their actions into familiar family situations.

      Among such scenarios are fake school supply stores, counterfeit electronic diary pages, messages about non-existent payments by September 1, imitations of fundraising in parent chats, as well as offers to enroll children in non-existent clubs, sections, or with tutors for prepayment.

      The calculation is also based on the high burden on families at the end of summer. Against the backdrop of a large number of everyday tasks, a request to transfer money or confirm data may seem quite ordinary and not raise suspicions.

      "Modern fraudulent schemes are increasingly becoming multi-stage: a call may be just the first stage of an attack, after which the child is transferred to a messenger, offered to click on a link, or continue interaction on a fake website," noted Alena Lepka, head of the family safety department at MTS.

      In such conditions, she emphasized, protection through only one communication channel is no longer sufficient, so a comprehensive approach is required. Lepka added that in MTS children's tariffs, mechanisms for blocking unwanted and fraudulent calls, as well as filtering potentially dangerous content in the mobile network, are activated by default. Additionally, the company's services use an AI filter that automatically detects and restricts dangerous content, forming an overall contour of digital safety for children and their parents.

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