Scammers are now calling Russians, pretending to be representatives of telecom operators and offering potential victims a test of an “exclusive” new service. Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, warned about this new tactic used by fraudsters in a conversation with Life.ru.
According to the deputy, the fraudsters inform the person on the other end that their number has supposedly been selected to participate in testing a new service. During the call, the criminals may claim the offer is time-limited or insist on supposedly unique conditions specifically for that subscriber. Additionally, the scammers assure the potential victim that the service is completely free.
To activate this purported service, the subscriber is asked to read out a code received via SMS. However, Nemkin emphasized that in reality, the scammers use this code to seize control of the subscriber`s personal account and subsequently take over their phone number.
The parliamentarian added that these calls can originate from either a live person or an automated robot system. “In some instances, criminals employ social engineering techniques: they might pose as technical support and convince the person that the code is needed to `cancel an erroneous charge` or `protect against hacking`,” Nemkin explained.
The deputy firmly stated that legitimate telecom operators and banks absolutely never ask for SMS codes over the phone. He urged Russians to immediately hang up if they receive such a call.
Previously reported scam tactics targeting Russians include fraudsters posing as university staff to trick prospective students into clicking phishing links leading to fake “Gosuslugi” (State Services) websites. Furthermore, in the second quarter of 2025, there was a surge in scams targeting job seekers, specifically by inviting them to fake online interviews.
Clement Ashworth 
Barnaby Whitfield