Published on: 2026-06-10
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Project experts“Call back yourself”warn Muscovites about the newType of fraud, related tofake powers of attorney. Fraudsters present themselves as notaries or employees of law enforcement agencies and inform a person about an allegedly issued power of attorney in their name, which supposedly allows unknown individuals to manage the real estate or accounts of the trustor. To be convincing, the scammers offer to verify the power of attorney number through an official registry where such a document is indeed listed.
Criminals take advantage of the victims’ confusion, intimidating them by claiming that the apartment can be sold and the funds withdrawn from bank accounts.
“Any suspicious letters received by email, or messages in messenger, especially if they are sent allegedly on behalf of a notary or government bodies with the note ‘Electronic power of attorney,’ should be ignored. Official structures will never send such documents in spam mailings. A power of attorney, both in paper and electronic form, is drawn up and certified only upon personal application to the notary,” said Valentina Shilina, head of the “Call Yourself” project in the capital
How the system works with forged powers of attorney
The essence of the new fraudulent scheme is that criminals use the details of real existing powers of attorney and act according to one of the scenarios:
—receive unauthorized accessto the accounts on the official resource and upload fake powers of attorney there, including supposedly on behalf of a notary. Then they call the victims, represent themselves as employees of state bodies or notaries, and claim that the citizen has become an object of fraud;
—send a letter by email or a message in a messengerwith a link to the allegedly issued power of attorney. After following the link, a person sees a “document” with personal data about the management of real estate or valuable property.
In the wallpaper, they suggest checking if there is a document in the database through a special power of attorney verification service by requisites. Since fraudsters forge documents using the data of real existing powers of attorney, the verification is quite successful.
However, as experts of the “Call me back” project note, the service does not display the full text of the document and data of the actual trustee, therefore it is impossible to obtain more detailed information.
Then, using the substitution of victims, the criminalsoffer:
— to transfer money to a “safe” account in order to solve the problem;
— to pay the “duty” to revoke the power of attorney;
— urgently sell property in order to get the money earlier than the person in whose name the power of attorney is supposedly issued. In fact, the victim is drawn into yet another scam that may have various purposes and scenarios.
Where do scammers get data for fake powers of attorney?
Experts of the “Call Me Back” project said that sources of real data for fraudsters can serve as:
— leaks from databases
— actions of unscrupulous employees of government agencies and notary offices;
— information purchased on the black market;
— data collection from open sources;
— fake websites that imitate official portals, where people themselves enter their data.
How to verify the authenticity of a power of attorney and avoid falling victim to scammers
Experts remind: a forgery of a notarized power of attorney is easily detected and has no legal force.
How to verify authenticity:
—по эelectronicoy signatureи notaryon digital power of attorney through the official portal of the authorized federal body in the field of electronic signature usage. In addition, a notarized power of attorney must have the notary’s seal, registry number, and date of certification;
—po pfirstm digitam power of attorney numbers— they indicate the region where it was issued. For example, a notary from Moscow cannot issue a power of attorney with a code from Nizhny Novgorod.
Moreover, it followsrememberseveral rules.
A power of attorney is executed and certified onlywhen personally addressing a notary. If you did not personally execute the document, then any power of attorney drawn up without your involvement is invalid.
Official structures neverdo not send powers of attorney via spam mailings.
If someone contacts you and talks about having a power of attorney issued in your name, as well as urges you to urgently resolve the situation, the experts of the “Call Yourself Back” project recommend taking a pause. It is important to physically distance yourself from the situation — at least put the phone down. This will help avoid pressure and critically assess the situation. And under no circumstances should you follow links in suspicious emails or messages in messengers. Such actions directly lead to theft of funds and accounts on official resources.
What is the project “Perezzvon Sam”
The informational online project “Call Back Yourself” was created in 2022 by the Government of Moscow in cooperation with the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the city of Moscow. It helps residents of the capital protect themselves and their loved ones from telephone and internet fraud. The project’s website contains information about upcoming in-person and online events, as well as expert reminders and recommendations, records of past eventswebinarsand other useful materials. For users’ convenience, lecture recordings can be watched on the project’s website, on the social network page“VKontakte”and on the channel onRutube.
The main components of the “Call Again” project are simple and clear expert tips, relevant stories, and a convenient format. At the events, real stories of victims are discussed, attention is drawn to the methods used by fraudsters, and they also explain how to behave correctly in such a situation.
In 2023, the project “Perekzon sam” won in the nomination “Best social project site” of the “Golden Site” award. In addition, it received a Runet award in the nomination “Information security.” In 2025, the project was awarded prizes at the international competition of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia “City and Pen” and the IV All-Russian competition “Regional Information Security Cup.”
Creation and support of means to ensure information security, as well as countering cyber fraud, correspond to the objectives of the national project“Economics of Data and Digital Transformation of the State”. More about the national projects of Russia and the contribution of the capital can be found atspecial page.
Get the main news quickly on the official channel of the city of Moscow in the messenger“Max” и“Telegram”.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the source. It represents an exact report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.