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2026-03-27 07:59:20 UTC

kravietz 🦇 on Nostr: #Russia “Max” messenger is being pushed primarily as a more secure alternative to ...

#Russia “Max” messenger is being pushed primarily as a more secure alternative to messengers such as WhatsApp and Telegram, which are plagued by scam calls and messages.

However, the Russian “Bumaga” project checked that all the scams that worked on the “Western messengers” also work very well on “Max” - plus some more, previously unknown. “Max” closely integrates with GosUslugi, the Russian e-government portal, which was advertised as one of the additional security features, but in reality it has zero impact on scam prevention and instead only creates new attack vectors. In theory, opening a “Max” account requires a phone number from Russia or other former USSR country, but scammers buy them - as everything in Russia - easily on darknet or hire “droppers”, regular people who sell them their registered “Max” accounts. Russian scam calls are especially effective because the scammers usually know plenty of personal details, financial history and other sensitive data about their victims which they also… buy on the darknet, where it’s being sold by government officials and employees of large financial or telecommunications companies.

The video is in Russian but YT automatic subtitles translation works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjBIGhHIWGU