The lawyer warned about the recruitment of schoolchildren as scammers

In Russia, scammers are increasingly involving teenagers in criminal schemes as couriers, recruiting them through online games under the guise of easy earnings. The problem affects all age groups, and long-known tricks continue to work due to a lack of prevention. This was announced to Izvestia on October 17 by Anton Klyuchko, head of the law branch of Klyuchko, Landau and Partners.

"Often, the role of a "courier" is reduced to transferring stolen funds or withdrawing cash from ATMs, while the perpetrators themselves often do not fully understand that they are becoming part of a criminal chain. No less dangerous is the practice when recruitment occurs after a person, including a teenager, has become a victim of fraud: having gained access to a banking application, the attackers steal money, and then offer to "work off" the amount by carrying out courier orders," Klyuchko explained.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2025, the number of teenagers aged 14-17 involved in criminal activity increased by 20%. The number of citizens of other age groups involved increased by a similar percentage. However, Klyuchko emphasizes that the problem is not "adolescent" — it is of a general nature and affects all segments of the population.

The key difference in the scammers' approaches to different age categories is the contact platforms. Teenagers are more often targeted in online games, where attackers offer "easy earnings" under the guise of game offers or bonuses. Criminals prefer to contact adults through messengers and social networks. At the same time, the recruitment methods themselves are almost identical for all ages and have remained effective for years.

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One of the most common tactics is deception in the form of false promises of earnings: fraudsters disguise criminal activity as a courier job with a flexible schedule and higher—than-market pay. In some cases, threats and blackmail are used, such as intimidation against relatives.

The scheme with "secret operations" on behalf of the security forces does not lose its relevance: people, including minors, are convinced that they are helping to identify fraudsters, and they are offered to pick up a "suspicious" bag of money or distribute cash to accounts.

Klyuchko noted that even obvious schemes work because people, especially teenagers, do not always recognize the signs of fraud or do not know how to respond to suspicious offers. He cited alarming signals: excessively high pay for simple work, lack of official registration, requests to act "quietly" and not tell loved ones about work, and pressure from urgency.

According to the lawyer, the fact that long-known tricks continue to bring results indicates a lack of prevention. It should be systematic and cover all age groups. He calls educational conversations, real-world case analysis, and digital literacy training key tools. If there is a suspicious offer, it is important not to enter into a dialogue and inform the law enforcement authorities.

The lawyer also advises discussing the risks with loved ones: parents or teachers may notice warning signs in time — the sudden appearance of "easy" money from a child or his reticence about "part-time work." This will help reduce the vulnerability of society to the long-known, but still effective tricks of fraudsters.

On August 9, the Moshelovka platform of the Popular Front warned about a new fraud scheme aimed at parents of teenagers. The attackers send messages about allegedly suspicious transactions on children's cards and offer to undergo an urgent check through a link to a fake service. Users can be persuaded to upload documents confirming kinship, as well as login information for mobile banking.