Experts from South Ural State University have conducted the first detailed study of the impact of telephone scams on the regional household economy. Nataliia Golubeva, Candidate of Sciences (Economics), Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, Finance, and Financial Law at the SUSU Miass Branch has published a research paper based on telephone scam data from the city of Zlatoust for the first quarter of 2025.
"The average typical fraud victims are 58.8 year old people, and most often these are women. The most popular fraudulent schemes are "Safe Account", "Relatives in an Accident", "Meter Replacement", "SIM Card Expiration Date", and "Investments"," Nataliia Golubeva's study states. "There are also cases of "Advance Payment" and "Financing of Terrorism" schemes. Moreover, 32% of victims install third-party apps on their phones to transfer funds to accounts specified by the fraudsters."
What are the millions given to scammers made up of?
"On average, victims give scammers 539,000 roubles of their own savings, while the average loan debt is 549,000 roubles. Overall, the average damage per victim is 590,000 roubles. In percentage terms, taking into account the average pension and salary of residents of the Chelyabinsk Region in the first quarter of 2025 (23,185 roubles and 72,060 roubles, respectively), the damage from fraudulent activity amounts to 2168% of the victim's monthly income," SUSU Associate Professor Nataliia Golubeva cites data on Zlatoust.
Having obtained objective damage figures, the researchers proposed a new system for analyzing the risk of fraud to household financial stability. It takes into account several risk factors:
– how sharply the quality of life of affected families declines due to bank debt;
– how much the potential for future savings ("financial cushion") is reduced;
– what consequences the family suffers as a whole, taking into account stress factors and the need for urgent loan repayments.
These coefficients are incorporated into a formula that ranks household security across three levels: low, medium and high. Families with low security levels resulting from fraud require not only justice but also socioeconomic support.
The development by the SUSU researchers can be used by judicial and executive authorities, social welfare agencies, and charitable foundations. The methodology is applicable to all territories and will help ensure that our state not only protects its citizens' property but also provides them with essential social assistance.