Bank of Russia warns teenagers against moving stolen money

The Bank of Russia said on October 9 that fraudsters target teenagers through messaging services, social networks, fake websites and apps, and recruit them to move stolen money.

The regulator told RIA Novosti that a survey identified these channels of contact. It also named deepfakes among the tools used by criminals. Alongside deceiving teenagers themselves, fraudsters seek to use their accounts to transfer and withdraw money stolen from other people.

The central bank recommends that adults discuss card and online banking security with children. Teenagers should not hand their cards or access to their banking apps to outsiders, or agree to move other people’s money through their own accounts.

A separate warning concerns payments that the sender claims were made by mistake. The regulator advises against forwarding such money at someone else’s request. It outlined the recommendations in comments for RIA Novosti’s Code from an SMS project.