Cybersecurity experts told the exam by the exam how not to become a victim of fraud on the Internet

Cyberanalics predict the growth of fraud against children during the summer holidays.

A high level of digital activity and the emergence of free time in schoolchildren makes them an attractive audience for attackers. They try to deceive children with fake mobile games, social networks and are increasingly speculating on the topic of school exams. The specialists of MegaFon, together with the Kaspersky Laboratory and Rustore, analyzed the trends and made a list of recommendations on how to protect children from digital threats.

According to the analysts of Megafon, since the beginning of the year, scammers are increasingly impending themselves to be representatives of the school: headlines, social teachers. The schemes of fraud can be different, as well as the actions that schoolchildren should perform: in some cases they offer to register on a certain resource, in the other to name the code from SMS to supposedly activate the school diary, and sometimes ask to clarify the personal data of the parents.

In the first five months of this year, such incidents are registered 30 % more than for the entire last year. Now, during the period of exams, a scheme is relevant, according to which graduates are offered to get answers or find out the results of the exam before others.

“An increase in fraudulent activity in relation to children has been fixed by us since the beginning of the year both in our own analytics and the appeals of our subscribers. Calls of scammers are blocked, but many attackers communicate with children on social networks and instant messengers. One of the last schemes is to involve minors in criminal activity through proposals to submit their accounts in instant messengers and social networks for rent for money. Such accounts are used for fraudulent calls, the spread of malicious content or the conduct of phishing attacks, including friends and acquaintances through trusted communication channels. In addition, modern children are advanced users of digital technologies and applications, which makes their accounts especially valuable for attackers, ”said Sergey Khrenov, director of the Department for the prevention of MegaFon's income.

In addition to the techniques of social engineering, cybercriminals use other ways to deceive children, penetrating their gadgets through applications.

“According to Rustore, over the past year, the number of downloads of children's applications and games has increased by 3 times, and the number of published projects in this category is doubled. With an increase in popularity, the number of dangerous fakes aimed at a young audience increased. Most often, scammers create fake versions of popular games and services in which links to phishing sites or malicious software for theft of personal and payment data are sewn. Installation files are distributed through game chats and comments on social networks, where scammers offer free intra -game objects or easy earnings through a special application. To prevent such fraud, it is important to explain to children that you need to download games only from the trusted applications stores, ”said Dmitry Morev, Director of Rustore information security.

According to Kaspersky Laboratory, the number of attacks on Android devices of Russian users, in which malicious files mimicated to the games popular among children, increased by almost 60 % in the first four months of 2025 compared to the same period of 2024. This is, in particular, about fakes under Minecraft, Roblox, Brawl Stars, Genshin Impact. At the same time, the number of attacks almost three times increased, where the attackers gave out malicious software for cheats (methods of obtaining any advantage in the game due to program errors). Under the guise of games, for example, some modifications of the mobile banking Trojan Mamont are distributed.

There are also cases when the attackers embedded malicious software in fashion (updates to modify or correct errors) for popular games, in particular, this is the NECRO – a loader for Android, which downloads and launches on an infected smartphone other malicious components depending on which commanders will give the creators of the Trojan.

“The main vector of infection of Android Smartphones with ceremony is under the guise of games or cheats-applications from third-party, unofficial sources, where there is no moderation. In addition, recently, attackers began to actively send harmful programs in messengers – under the guise of a variety of lures. Therefore, we recommend that we maintain vigilance and not issue permission to confidential data (SMS, call magazines, a list of contacts, etc.), as well as “special capabilities” without obvious necessity. The protective solution will help minimize the risks of infecting the device – it should be installed not only on a PC, but also on a mobile device, ”says Dmitry Kalinin, cybersecurity expert in Kaspersky Laboratory.