account rental

The Kremlin-supported messaging application Max is experiencing a significant rise in account rental scams, with around 1,000 fraudulent ads appearing daily on darknet forums and Telegram channels, offering users between and 0 for temporary access to their accounts. Approximately 9% of fraudulent calls in Russia now originate from the Max platform, a figure that could more than double by the end of 2025. Developers of Max have blocked 67,000 suspicious accounts in August and have partnered with Sberbank and Kaspersky Lab to improve security. Recent legislation has imposed criminal penalties for the transfer of accounts and SIM cards, with offenders facing up to two years in prison. The Interior Ministry has noted that account rentals are a primary tactic used by scam call centers on Max.