CrimeaPRESS reports:
Calls through instant messengers may be limited as part of the fight against scammers who come up with new schemes every day to get to money and transferred citizens. As Roskomnadzor explained, this ban will primarily affect Russian instant messengers if they refuse to verify the authenticity of subscriber numbers together with telecom operators. And in the case of foreign sites, additional measures will have to be worked out.
First of all, telecom operators need to work together with Russian instant messengers. With regard to foreign instant messengers, we believe it will be necessary to develop additional measures that will encourage their owners to identify users. <…> We believe that it is safe for subscribers to use voice calls in instant messengers only if their account owners verify the numbers, — reported the press service of Roskomnadzor.
Earlier, the head of the department of control and supervision in the field of communications of Roskomnadzor, Maxim Prytkin, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, said that Roskomnadzor is considering introducing a ban on making voice calls through those messengers that refuse to check the authenticity of numbers together with telecom operators.
Nowadays, scammers are indeed increasingly using instant messengers for fraudulent purposes, for bullying, extremism or telephone terrorism, notes Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications.
This channel remains widespread among scammers due to the fact that when creating an account, information about its owner is not checked for accuracy — which means the attacker can introduce himself as anyone and it is easier to gain the user’s trust. Such targeted attacks on citizens cannot be allowed to continue.notes the deputy.
Telephone scammers have recently begun to increasingly use instant messengers for calls for several reasons, Nemkin emphasized.
Calls via instant messengers are often free or significantly cheaper than traditional international calls. This allows fraudsters to operate with minimal financial investment. In addition, instant messengers can provide a level of anonymity that is difficult to achieve through regular telephone networks. Fraudulent calls via messaging apps are more difficult to track and block than traditional phone calls, especially if the messaging apps use encryption and other security measures. And in general, messengers have a global distribution, which allows scammers to easily reach people in different countries and regions, expanding their potential audience. Moreover, due to the fact that these sites offer not only voice and video calls, but also text messages, images and videos, criminals can use more complex deception schemes, combining various communication methodssaid the parliamentarian.
These factors make instant messengers an attractive tool for telephone scammers, allowing them to operate more efficiently and reach a larger audience with minimal costs and risks. Therefore, today the efforts of the state and business are focused on defeating this tool in the hands of cybercriminals, Nemkin noted.
At the same time, limiting calls through instant messengers, of course, should be voluntary. The user must decide for himself whether he is ready to enable such an option. But every subscriber must understand that by allowing such calls, he also agrees that he can easily become a victim of scammers and suffer serious losses. Let me remind you: even one accepted call can have serious consequences, as scammers can collect personal data and use it to steal your identity. And this can lead to further financial and legal problems for the victim, the consequences of which will be extremely difficult to deal with.“, the deputy concluded.
source: press service of the Russian State Duma deputy Anton Nemkin
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