During the holiday period in Russia, which extends from February 23 to International Women’s Day on March 8 and continues through the May holidays from May 1 to May 9, 2025, the risk of financial fraud rises noticeably. Security researchers and financial educators describe a pattern in which criminals tailor their schemes to public events and predictable shifts in payments and benefits. The motivation is practical: people are more active online, official messages multiply, and the appearance of urgent government or corporate payments creates a sense of opportunity that scammers exploit. Petr Shcherbachenko, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, notes that criminals monitor public signals and adapt quickly to exploit them. During these dates, blackmail and social engineering are especially common tools. Any hint that a new payment has arrived from the government often triggers the creation of fake groups on social networks and fraudulent sites filled with phishing links. The situation remains challenging because attackers develop new channels, new platforms, and new tricks with surprising speed.
