MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. The growth in the amount of money stolen from Russians by fraudsters did indeed come to a halt by the end of 2025, Sergey Polunin, head of the Infrastructure IT Solutions Protection Group at Gazinformservice, told TASS, commenting on a similar assessment by Sberbank.
At the same time, he said it is still too early to speak of a turning point and that "a fundamental breakthrough in the fight against scammers is still a long way off." He added that there is a lack of new statistical data reflecting the countermeasures being taken by the criminals themselves. "The fact that the growth has stopped is great," the expert acknowledged.
Among the reasons for the halt in the growth of stolen funds, he cited increased public awareness and vigilance – even though the number of fraudulent calls has not declined – as well as the development of technical protection tools at credit institutions and the implementation of legislative initiatives.
"But overall, the picture remains extremely alarming. There is a positive shift, but it only means that fraud will evolve. At the same time, in certain segments, such as cryptocurrency, fraud continues to grow. Financial losses from the actions of cybercriminals are quite significant, and I would not yet declare any kind of turning point," Polunin concluded.
Earlier, Sberbank Deputy Chairman of the Management Board Stanislav Kuznetsov said that by the end of 2025 it had been possible to halt the growth in the volume of stolen funds. According to the bank’s estimate, the total for the year will amount to around 280-285 bln rubles ($3.69-3.75 bln), with a slight downward trend noted.
At the same time, spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Irina Volk said earlier that the number of IT-related crimes in Russia last year fell by nearly 12% compared with the previous year.
"As a result, in 2025, the number of crimes committed using information and telecommunications technologies was 11.8% lower than in 2024, including serious and especially serious offenses, which declined by 4.6%," she wrote on her Telegram channel.
Volk added that the number of remote thefts decreased by 23.6%, remote fraud by 9%, and crimes in the field of computer information by 42.2%.
The ministry’s representative also said that overall, the total number of crimes registered in Russia last year fell by 7.3%. The number of registered robberies declined by 11.2%, muggings by 18.3%, thefts by 9.3%, including apartment burglaries by 27.1%, car thefts by 23.7%, vehicle hijackings by 11.6%, and all types of fraud by 7.6%. In streets, squares, parks, and public gardens, 15.1% fewer crimes were recorded than a year earlier. Street robberies fell by 22%, muggings by 32.2%, and thefts by 20.5%. The number of crimes recorded by interior bodies in the transport sector declined by 2.3%.