In 2023, cybercriminals leveraging online technologies drained roughly 16 billion rubles from residents. Simultaneously, scam websites surged by 86%, and attacks via instant messaging rose from 12% to about 22.5%. This trend was highlighted by Aleksey Goncharov, Yandex’s Deputy Commercial Director for Quality, in discussions with socialbites.ca.
Experts note that criminals have sharpened their methods, drawing users to dubious pages with provocative headlines and shocking ads. Flashy slogans often funnel visitors to sites that offer irrelevant content or have no relation to the advertised subject.
“Bad actors can hide subpar products, operate fake storefronts, or create pages that harvest contacts and flood them with spam”, Goncharov explained.
Additionally, unscrupulous advertising can push users toward pages that resemble well-known platforms. The design and content mimic legitimate sites, with only minor tweaks to the domain name to mislead visitors.
Yandex relies on AI technologies to curb fraud. Algorithms scrutinize ad content, URLs, and other signals to assess advertisement integrity, helping identify deceptive placements and preserve user trust.
Part of this effort targets text cloaking, a tactic that distorts keywords to evade machine screening. For instance, an ad containing the word “casino” would typically be blocked due to gambling-ad bans, yet scammers may use variants like casino0 to slip through. Neural networks help detect and counter such tricks.
Another tool, Tracker, monitors user activity on advertising sites—counting clicks, dwell time, and other signals. If behavior looks suspicious, the ad can be blocked to protect users.
The company also deploys Anti-Scam and SafeSearch algorithms that automatically identify and block harmful or immoral content across the network.
In 2023, Yandex reported rejecting more than 35 million questionable ads and blocking 214 thousand accounts as part of its fraud-detection efforts. The cadence of replies from ordinary users remains essential, with complaints about dubious ads helping to expose and neutralize threats. The system processes millions of such reports each month to keep the ecosystem safer for everyday browsing and advertising.
Industry observers note a persistent pattern: fraudsters continually adapt to emerging devices and channels, including smartphones, highlighting the need for constant vigilance by platforms and users alike. The push toward more automated moderation and user reporting is shaping a faster, more responsive response to evolving scams, helping reduce exposure and risk for online shoppers and social media participants. The focus remains on proactive screening, rapid containment, and clear attribution of malicious activity to deter future attempts, especially as tech ecosystems expand across North America and beyond.