Russia Warns of Scammers Impersonating Government Portal Employees

Dragon Media News Desk

Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has warned that remote scammers are impersonating employees of government service portals to gain psychological control over victims and, in some cases, involve them in serious criminal activities.

Citing the ministry’s press centre, TASS reported that scammers contact people under the pretext of problems with their government portal accounts or offers of payments to which they are allegedly entitled.

They then ask victims to provide bank card details, personal information or confidential verification codes, claiming the information is required to resolve the problem or process the payment.

After obtaining the information, the scammers may continue pressuring, frightening or misleading victims to make them follow further instructions, according to the ministry.

Russian authorities said that, in some cases, victims have also been manipulated into criminal acts, including sabotage and terrorist offences, under the false promise of recovering stolen money or avoiding legal consequences.

Security officials have advised people who receive suspicious calls or messages claiming to be from government institutions to end the conversation and verify the information through the organisation’s official communication channels.

The ministry stressed that government agencies, banks and public service portals do not ask people to provide full bank card details, passwords or SMS verification codes by telephone or message.

Citizens have been urged not to disclose confidential information, avoid opening unfamiliar links and immediately report suspicious activity to the police or the relevant service provider.