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Russian banks repel over 6.5 mln attacks on client accounts in Q2 — Central Bank

According to the regulator, calls from scammers impersonating employees of the Bank of Russia or of other banks remain the most wide-spread practice

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Russian banks repelled over 6.5 mln attacks on client accounts in Q2 2023 compared with 2.7 mln in the previous quarter, the Central Bank said in its Review on Information Security Incidents Related to Funds Transfers, adding that fraudsters were prevented from stealing 911 bln rubles ($9.6 bln).

"In April-June, offenders conducted 279,700 unauthorized transactions worth 3.6 bln rubles. The amount of loss from unauthorized transactions declined by 6% compared to the average for the previous four quarters although the number of such transactions increased by 28.5%," the regulator said.

"Telephone fraudsters were more active in the second quarter. Calls from scammers impersonating employees of the Bank of Russia or of other banks remain the most wide-spread practice. The regulator initiated the blocking of 276,800 telephone numbers used to defraud people," according to the review.

Moreover, the Bank of Russia promptly identified 8,056 suspicious online resources and passed over information about them to the Prosecutor General’s Office and domain name registrars for further blocking.

The number of phishing attacks dropped by almost 40% compared to the average in the previous four quarters, the regulator added.

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Central Bank of Russia

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