Head of the Ministry of Cyphra, Maksut Shadaev, has revealed that scammers using WhatsApp messenger for fraudulent activities have increased to 70-80%. He disclosed this at the Telecom conference stating that the fight against telephone fraud has yielded significant results in collaboration with telecom operators, as the number of fraudulent calls through regular phones has significantly decreased. Shadaev attributed the progress to the introduction of responsibilities for passing traffic from substitution numbers. He emphasized that the authorities would continue this work to curb fraudulent activities on WhatsApp messenger.
Shadaev added that over 200 administrative cases have been filed against operators responsible for missing traffic from substitution numbers. They intend to collaborate with the operators to find technological solutions to the issue. The head of ministry also promised an order of magnitude less spam calls this year through an agreement with the operators to combat against spamming.
Although Shadaev assured that they will fight scammers through the messenger, he emphasized that it would be done “very carefully.” In general, Shadaev believes that “the whole regulatory is already there” in addressing the issue of telephone fraud.