The number of phishing attacks on the eve of March 8 and February 23 doubled

During the gender holidays, scammers create almost twice as many phishing resources as the average per year. This level of activity turned out to be even higher than during the peak days of the New Year period. This is evidenced by the analysis of MegaFon, which was reviewed by Izvestia on February 26.

The operator's specialists analyzed data on identified phishing sites for 2025 and early 2026. As follows from the analysis, during the gender holidays, the number of phishing increases 1.8 times relative to the annual average and exceeds even the figures for December. At the same time, February of last year, which was shorter than the rest of the months, became the absolute leader in the number of threats.

Phishing most often imitates social networks and messengers — more than 40% of the total number of identified resources. With the help of such fakes, attackers try to gain access to users' personal accounts in order to continue fraud on the victim's contact list. Another 27% copy the interfaces of financial and investment services, and about 13% spread fake news and promises of compensation. Fake marketplaces usually occupy the fourth place, but their share increases briefly during the holidays.

Online scammers deliberately bet on "themed" dates and use the emotional background of the holidays: they carry out fake "promotions" under the guise of stores and brands, give away "prizes" and present themselves as a "delivery service."

"The risk of falling for tricks is increasing because fakes are becoming more and more high—quality, and users are in a hurry not to check suspicious links and messages," said Sergey Khrenov, director of the Fraud Prevention and Revenue Loss Department.

False exchange rate: how scammers speculate on the topic of currency exchange on the Web

The attackers take advantage of the victims' desire to avoid banking formalities

On February 26, it was reported that fraudsters began using a new deception scheme, calling Russians through messengers, posing as neighbors and trying to lure codes from SMS under the pretext of replacing the intercom. This is how attackers gain access to personal data or banking services.

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