Stanislav Kuznetsov, deputy chairman of Sberbank’s executive board, said the bank had prevented losses of approximately 220 billion rubles since the beginning of 2026 resulting from fraud attempts targeting its customers. Kuznetsov said the effectiveness of Sberbank’s anti-fraud system had reached 99.99 percent.
Kuznetsov said fraudsters in Russia had attempted to steal approximately 3.7 trillion rubles during the first half of 2026, while the actual loss remained below 15 billion rubles. He said the actual loss amounted to approximately 0.4 percent of the total amount targeted and noted that although the number of attempts was declining, the attacks were becoming more sophisticated.
Remote fraud declined
Kuznetsov said data from Russia’s Interior Ministry showed that cases of remote fraud declined by 22.7 percent in the first quarter of 2026. He said the damage caused by these crimes fell by 19 percent over the same period, while Sberbank’s assessment showed that fraudsters’ overall activity had decreased by 30 percent year on year.
However, Kuznetsov said the average amount obtained through successful attacks was rising and that citizens did not report every financial loss to banks or the police. He noted that the actual situation might therefore not be fully reflected in official statistics.
Measures to prevent money transfers abroad through cryptocurrency
Kuznetsov said the transfer of stolen money abroad using cryptocurrency needed to be prevented. The Sberbank executive recalled that a law on digital assets and digital rights had been adopted in Russia and said its main provisions had entered into force on September 1.
Kuznetsov said he expected the law to establish a system for managing risks in the cryptocurrency market. He added that law enforcement agencies were conducting operations against cryptocurrency exchanges alleged to be involved in illegal activities.
Artificial intelligence has changed the nature of attacks
According to Kuznetsov, traditional phone scams are increasingly being replaced by multistage, personalized attacks using artificial intelligence. In these attacks, data about the victim is collected first, followed by a series of calls made in the name of different organizations; in addition to phishing messages, fake images and voices resembling real people are also used.
Kuznetsov said the number of phishing websites and messages had increased more than 30-fold in some areas. He said attackers could pose as healthcare providers, property management companies, executives or family members. He added that artificial intelligence-generated fake content was used particularly in targeted attacks expected to obtain large sums of money.
The number of fake materials generated with artificial intelligence in Russia has increased 26-fold over the past year and a half, while fraud losses linked to this method exceeded 2 billion rubles in 2026. One of the most common methods was reported to involve sending messages to employees using a fake image or voice of an executive.
Fraudsters target people of all age groups
Children, older people, workers, academics, rural residents and people living in major cities can all become targets of fraud attacks. Kuznetsov said attackers used seasonal developments, pension increases, the start of the school year and information gathered from social media accounts.
Older people are approached with promises that their pensions will be recalculated or that they will receive a special payment, while adults are targeted through fake messages from executives and corporate phishing schemes. Children and young people may be defrauded through game chats, dating apps and promises of easy money.
Fake job postings can lead to money transfers
Promises of high salaries for simple tasks without requiring experience were described as one of the main signs of fake job postings. Job seekers were advised to research the company, employee reviews and average salaries in the market, and to be cautious of postings that request money for training, database access or other reasons.
Those offering to rent or sell bank cards or messaging accounts, as well as those offering work in exchange for transferring money or withdrawing cash, may be fraudsters. Transferring money received from other people to different accounts or withdrawing and carrying cash may amount to participation in fraud chains that could result in criminal liability.
People who realize they have become involved in a fraud chain should stop following third parties’ instructions, cut off communication, preserve correspondence and contact their bank or law enforcement agencies. Since they may be asked to send money to another account on the grounds that a transfer was made in error, refunds should be made only to the account from which the money came and for the same amount.
Call for caution against loan and phone scams
Fake loan brokers may promise guaranteed approval regardless of a person’s credit history and demand a fee. Kuznetsov recalled that only a bank can make a lending decision and said contracts should be examined carefully before making any payment to intermediaries.
Kuznetsov said that simply saying “yes” during a conversation with a fraudster would not, by itself, enable money to be withdrawn from a bank account. However, terms such as “safe account,” an SMS code, card details, money transfers and threats of punishment could indicate suspected fraud.
People should not act hastily during calls they did not initiate that result in a request for money. They should end the communication and verify the situation through another channel.
