As Alexander Avdeiko said, just a few years ago cybercrimes were actively committed from prisons. “Now, thanks to both the legislative effort and the work of the Federal Penitentiary Service, this has been overcome,” he emphasized. Now, according to a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 90 percent of crimes of this type are committed in call centers located in Ukraine. “We use technologies provided by NATO countries,” noted Alexander Avdeiko. According to him, in reality an information and sabotage struggle is being waged. “Of course, sabotage in the Criminal Code is legally understood a little differently, but when the amounts reach such levels, when there are organizers, there are accomplices, there are those who carry out all these activities, assistants. After the victory we will document everyone. I am sure that these people will suffer the necessary retaliation,” emphasized the representative of the Ministry of the Interior.
As TASS clarifies with reference to Alexander Avdeiko’s report at the St. Petersburg International Law Forum, the damage caused by cybercrime last year in the Russian Federation amounted to 156.5 billion rubles. “In the last 4 years, the number of cybercrimes has increased by a third. Its proportion in relation to all other crimes <...> increased from 2020 to 2023 to 34.8%,” he said. Remote theft and fraud accounted for more than 70 percent of all cybercrime in 2023.
According to the head of the contract legal department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, from January to April of this year, compensation for damages from cybercrime increased by 2 percent, amounting to 5 billion rubles, with the amount of damage being 53.7 billion rubles. The percentage is small, law enforcement authorities admit. “We must understand that the money goes abroad, the organizers are there, so we still have a hard time with compensations,” said Alexander Avdeiko.
According to their data, thanks to the activities carried out by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for four months in 40 regions of the Russian Federation, 11 server stations were installed that ensure the operation of communication devices and more than 257 thousand SIM cards. from various operators. They were discovered and removed from the circulation of the shadows. “The total capacity of the seized equipment allowed more than 40 million calls to be made per day,” said Alexander Avdeiko.