Phishing is the most widespread form of online fraud. The attackers’ goal is to gain access to the victim’s personal data and, consequently, to their money.
The number of phishing attacks has been growing since 2020. If in 2020 the Domain Patrol detected 10 229 phishing domains in Russia, in 2025 their number reached 19 610—an increase of 90 %. These figures were presented by Evgeny Pankov, data analyst at the .RU/.РФ Coordination Centre, during the session “Explore the Internet—Control It!” held within the Global Digital Forum.
The event takes place on 5–6 June at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair and is included in the programme of the 10th conference “Digital Industry of Industrial Russia” (CIPR-2025).
Evgeny Pankov named the main rules whose observance can save Russians both money and nerves. He advised users to check a site’s address carefully before entering their personal data, because fraudsters often employ similar-looking domain names to lull victims’ vigilance.
“Pay attention to the website address. One single mistake, one single letter—and you may fall prey to fraudsters. You can verify a resource on the .RU/.РФ Coordination Centre’s portal: look at when the domain was registered and who its administrator is. If the site was created recently and is registered to a private individual, that should raise doubts,” the expert noted.
The analyst reminded listeners that one must never enter bank-card details on an unfamiliar site, nor disclose to third parties by phone the card’s CVV/CVC, expiry date or PIN, or quote one-time passwords and SMS codes.
“Banks never ask for such information by telephone. Moreover, if you suspect the callers are fraudsters, you should not negotiate with them. Using new technologies, swindlers can process the interlocutor’s voice and later use the recording against his acquaintances, friends and relatives,” he warned.
Evgeny Pankov also cautioned Russians against using the same passwords for different devices: if one device is hacked, criminals gain access to all the others.
After the lecture on safe behaviour online, session guests took part in an “Explore the Internet—Control It!” quiz. The questions were simple, for example:
● what names does the @ symbol have in other countries?
● on which platform would it take 10 000 years to watch all the videos?
● what devices were used to access the Internet in the pre-router era?
● who became the victim of the first phishing attack in history?
More details about the interactive project “Explore the Internet—Control It!”—aimed at raising digital literacy among school pupils and students—and about the Summer School on Internet Governance were given by Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the .RU/.РФ Coordination Centre:
“A key area of the Centre’s activity is educational projects. ‘Explore the Internet—Control It!’ is aimed first and foremost at upper-school pupils, college and university students, and young specialists, helping them become more experienced Internet users. We are now recruiting for the Summer School on Internet Governance, organised by the .RU/.РФ Coordination Centre together with the Faculty of International Relations of St Petersburg State University, under the auspices of the UN. It is the only Russian-language IG school in the world. In 2024 we received 250 applications from ten countries, including Latin America,” said Andrey Vorobyev.
This year the Summer School on Internet Governance will be held for the sixth time. Applications are open until the end of June.
