Russia Exposes Hundreds of Deepfake Scam Rings Exploiting Real User Accounts

Cybercriminals in Russia are scaling up their use of rented real-user accounts and deepfakes—often exploiting minors—to flood victims with scams and synthetic content.

In early 2025, Russian cybersecurity experts uncovered more than 200 fraud rings using deepfake technology and real-user accounts to carry out large-scale scams. According to Stanislav Kuznetsov, Deputy Chairman of the Sberbank Executive Board, the fraudsters rented profiles from ordinary users to make scam calls and send synthetic video content.

Throughout the first half of the year, criminals placed around six million calls per day. Scams through messengers also surged growing by a factor of 3.5. Increasingly, fraudsters aren’t just fabricating fake accounts, they’re renting legitimate ones to gain access to victims’ contact lists.

Over 105,000 individuals, 80% of which are minors, are believed to have participated by leasing their accounts for small payments, inadvertently aiding cybercriminal activity.

The rented profiles were used not only to make calls but also to distribute deepfakes to contacts saved within the accounts. In some cases, images from public profiles were repurposed for fake explicit content, extortion, or AI-generated videos impersonating the account holder.

Russian tech firms are fighting back with tools like Sber’s Caller ID, which blocks calls from unknown numbers. Experts are urging users to limit public access to their photos to prevent their misuse in synthetic media attacks.