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The Knesset Committee calls for measures to cultivate Russian -speaking wave of fraud – crimes in Israel

The Knesset Committee calls for measures to cultivate Russian -speaking wave of fraud – crimes in Israel

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The Knesset's immigration, absorption and diaspora issue organized an emergency discussion about the scope of a fraud that has so far led to ten million shekel, which was stolen annually by older people, new immigrants and Holocaust survivors, a cheeky pokes confirmed on Wednesday.

The fraud, which was largely committed by phone, in particular on the Russian -speaking community of Israel, with fraudsters in Russian. Experts who were present at the discussion warned that the scope of fraud in 2025 is likely to be tightened by the use of artificial intelligence.

The chairman of the reigning committee, MK Vladimir Beliak (Yesh Atid), called for the formation of an interministerial task force to tackle the phenomenon that “hundreds of thousands of people injured”, and added that “all relevant body had to increase,” confirmed Knesset.

According to a representative of the Association of Banks in Israel, about 100 million shekel was stolen in 2024, and a representative of the Ministry of Social Affairs added that the number of symptoms had increased by 20%.

The fraud “includes fraud cases in which banks and insurance companies are involved and blackmail money for family members in times of crisis,” said Beliak.

SMS spam and fake text message Phishing Concept. System Hacked Warning Alert, E -Mail -Hack, Fraud Malware, The Virus on Mobile Smartphone screen in the hands, dark tone, used up to reports. (Illustrative) (loan: Shutterstock)

“The Imitators speak Russians on the phone and can provide personal details of the victims. The calls are created both in Germany and from abroad. Data show that 2,000 fraud cases were recorded with older people, a quarter of whom were Russian speakers. In 2022 the damage was 70 million shekel,” he added.

“According to the complaints of the victims, the police reaction is inadequate, the enforcement is missing and cases are closed quickly,” he told the people present.

Statements of other politicians, victims, financial experts and lawyers

“Older citizens suffer from exploitation and fraud, and the phenomenon is increasing. The police said to some older victims that they did not open any cases,” added Mk Tatiana (Tania) Mazarsky (Yesh AT).

“Translate not only; bring someone who understands the language and mentality … it is not only fraud by deception, but a public feeling that the police do nothing. Send cases directly to Russian -speaking investigators and may reduce the phenomenon,” said Mk Evgeny Sova (Jisrael Beytenu). Yisrael Beytenu has a strong basis in the Russian immigrant community of Israel.

“My grandmother heard a voice on the phone that pretended to be,” a relative told the committee and described how her grandmother was cheated on the last day of independence. “Then a person said as if she was taking the phone to her, and told her that I will hit someone and I will go to prison unless she brings tens of thousands of Schekel,” she added.

“Shortly afterwards, the same person entered my grandmother's house and took her wallet. Grandma lives alone, this was her pension allowance, and now she has nothing. I will not have a home in Israel because she exploited my grandmother,” she added.

Another testimony came from a daughter who told what had happened with her mother a year ago and explained that fraudsters “deceived her mother for a long time with sophisticated means and cheated by 250,000 shekel”.

After the fraud, her mother was also kidnapped in an incident that ended after the participation of Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

An 83-year-old retired doctor also said to the committee and explained: “A man named Pavel called me and said that he stole 12,000 shekel from me. Later, people pretended to be of bank safety and said they feared that an insider helped the thief. She had to give me my credit cards to a courier.”

“They told me I should increase my credit limit what I was doing and 56,000 shekel were stolen, and later the theft rose to 94,000 shekel. I went to the bank and they canceled my cards. The bank told me that I was my fault that I gave them the maps and codes.

“We received disturbing reports from fraudsters who call the elderly and ask them to withdraw money without a card. This is something that banks can effectively address-for example by restricting cardless cancellations for a certain age group”, a representative of a million lobby association, a lobby and NGO resident in Israel, which promotes the needs of the Russian speakers in the country.

“Everyone can be a victim, not only older people. These tools can also be used to recruit spies. Most cases are not treated, and families and older victims are missing the ability to gain evidence. Some are ashamed that they have been cheated,” warned a lawyer.

A national fraud officer also said and explained: “We do not know how to categorize symptoms. Many cases of fraud units are managed … We do not ignore this.”

“In addition to investigations, we invest a lot of efforts in public awareness, the increase in red flags and cooperation. The phenomenon develops through artificial intelligence … We hold forums with local authorities, distribute videos that are translated into Russian translated, and lead at least one lecture weekly in Hebrew to understand them,” they added.

The director of the communication sector Cyber ​​Unit of the Ministry of Communication, Zohar Ben David, said: “The attacker will always be ahead of us and we will not remove the phenomenon, but we will reduce it.”

The Ministry of Communications “changed regulations for telecommunications after discussions from the committee and instructions for blocking numbers that pretend to be Israeli figures.

“I don't know how many complaints we have received on this topic. It has achieved an increase and we expect the phenomenon to grow in 2025,” said a representative of the Bank of Israel.



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