Russia Turns to AI and Biometrics to Combat Phone Scams

Russian telecom operators and government agencies are teaming up to use artificial intelligence in the fight against phone fraud. Plans include voice recognition to build a biometric database of scammers.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has directed multiple government agencies to explore how AI and advanced IT tools can be used to fight telephone fraud. The effort will involve close collaboration between telecom providers, banks, law enforcement, and state institutions.

In addition to blocking suspicious calls, authorities plan to use neural networks to identify and record the voices of scammers. The goal is to build a biometric voice database that can help trace and prosecute repeat offenders.

The move comes as fraudsters increasingly exploit AI themselves. One common scam involves deepfaked voices pretending to be distressed relatives asking for emergency money transfers. Russian lawmakers have previously signaled that criminal penalties may soon apply to the use of AI in such fraudulent schemes.

With both sides of the digital arms race turning to artificial intelligence, the government aims to stay one step ahead through tighter integration of telecom surveillance and biometric data collection.