A large Russian bank told who more often becomes a victim of fraudsters

VTB analyzed the profile of clients who fell for scammers last year. Women suffered from deception more often than men – 54% versus 46%; a year earlier the ratio was 50/50.

According to a VTB study, women were more often attacked by scammers in the spring, especially in April and May. The average age of victims has increased: in 2025 it was 48 years (50 years among women, 46 years among men), a year ago – about 40 years.

The majority of successful fraudulent transactions occurred on clients from densely populated regions. Moscow and the Moscow region account for a total of 19% of all cases, while St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region account for more than 7%.

The top 10 regions by the number of incidents also included the Krasnodar Territory (3%), Sverdlovsk (2.8%), Novosibirsk (2.5%), Chelyabinsk (2.5%) regions, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (2.4%), Perm Territory (2.3%), Irkutsk Region (2.2%) and the Republic of Bashkortostan (2.1%).

The minimum number of fraudulent cases (about 1%) occurs in the Voronezh and Tula regions.

“Women are slightly more likely to be targeted by financial scammers because they are at the center of many financial and family decisions. Fraudsters deliberately exploit their main qualities: caring for loved ones and responsibility. A call asking for help “from a child” or a message about “account blocking” with a demand to urgently transfer money to a “safe account” are planned attacks on their emotional state and social role. Modern security systems block the vast majority of suspicious transactions in real time. However, the awareness and vigilance of Russians remains the main barrier to attackers,” said Dmitry Sarantsev, Deputy Head of the Security Department and Vice President of VTB.

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