The number of crimes using IT technologies in Russia has decreased by 8.5% over three months, including due to the neutralization of call centers located in Ukraine, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said at a meeting of the ministers of internal affairs and public security of the SCO member states.
“In the Russian Federation, every fourth crime is still committed using IT technologies. However, over the three months of this year, their number has significantly decreased – by 8.5%. According to experts, this indicates that call centers located in Ukraine and neutralized during a special military operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were massively involved in this process,” he said.
In early April, RBC, citing Kaspersky Lab, reported that in late February and early March, the number of fraudulent calls decreased, but by the end of March it began to grow. Sources of the publication in the security market noted that the reduction in calls in March could be due to the fact that some of the attackers’ call centers were located in Ukraine.
On June 3, Sberbank Deputy Chairman of the Board Stanislav Kuznetsov, on the sidelines of the Digital Industry of Industrial Russia conference, said that the call center of scammers uncovered in Berdyansk had data of at least 20 million Russians, it employed at least 300 people. The call center was uncovered by the Russian military, and Sber was brought in as an expert to help restore data on damaged servers.
Kuznetsov said that the attackers obtained the data of Russians from logistics and delivery services, which were hacked through Internet resources. He noted that, according to available materials, the call center in Berdyansk acted in agreement with the Ukrainian authorities. Its infrastructure was deployed in Germany and the Netherlands, call accounting services and a secure call accounting system were deployed in the US, and IP telephony was deployed in Estonia.