Services

In the 2020s, the world has seen a significant surge in phone fraud. The number of financial transactions conducted via the Internet has grown substantially, as has the number of users of digital financial services—and criminals have taken advantage of this. In this lecture, we will examine a variety of fraud schemes, both common (such as fake calls from banks, SMS messages from “relatives” or acquaintances asking for money, and requests to return funds allegedly transferred to an account by mistake) and more sophisticated ones involving AI technologies.

Each scheme has dozens or even hundreds of variations, including multi-step setups with several seemingly unrelated calls. We will try to cover as many of these variations as possible and will also look at a number of real-life examples of successful fraud.

Lecture duration: 1.5 hours.
Audience: general (ages 12+).

Users of online classifieds platforms—both sellers and buyers—are prime targets for fraudsters. Criminals seek to obtain money, goods, and personal data through a wide range of schemes. Despite their variety, these schemes share common patterns—for example, scammers almost always try to move the conversation to external messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or Skype, since built-in messaging systems often restrict malicious links.

This lecture explores several of the most common fraud schemes: fake delivery services for non-existent goods, sales of unusually cheap items through hacked accounts, and fraudulent job offers that require upfront payments from applicants, among others. Each scheme has many variations, and the lecture aims to provide a broad overview, supported by real-world examples of successful fraud.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Audience: general (12+).

Passwords remain the primary line of defence in protecting information. Around 10% of internet users rely on passwords that appear in the top 25 most common lists—such as 123456, 123456789, qwerty, password, iloveyou, admin, and so on. These weak passwords are often used even for corporate systems and accounts containing sensitive information.

This lecture explains the methods attackers use to obtain passwords and teaches practical strategies for securing accounts: creating strong passwords resistant to brute-force and dictionary attacks; storing or memorising passwords securely so they cannot be misused even if discovered; using different passwords for different services and updating them regularly; working with password managers; and recognising malicious websites where credentials should never be entered.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Audience: general (12+).

Email is an essential tool in modern life. It is used for personal and business communication, file sharing, and account registration across countless services. Gaining access to a user’s email account gives attackers virtually unlimited возможностей: they can compromise nearly any service linked to it, enabling theft, blackmail, or data exfiltration.

One of the most effective and dangerous forms of cyberattack—especially in the context of the mass shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic—is email phishing: a set of social engineering techniques that allow attackers to obtain personal or corporate data through email communication.

This lecture examines the techniques used by cybercriminals in phishing attacks, along with real examples of phishing emails designed for different purposes. Participants will learn to identify malicious emails based on visual, textual, and contextual indicators.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Audience: general (16+).

Social media platforms are a concentrated source of personal information. From a social media account, an attacker can learn a person’s full name, address, phone number, income level, travel plans, and social connections. Users often unknowingly publish sensitive data—including scanned passports, boarding passes, confidential documents, and details about their homes and daily routines.

This lecture series consists of two main parts: “How to Avoid Legal and Content-Related Risks” and “How Scammers Operate on Social Media.”

The first lecture explores the risks and legal consequences associated with publishing prohibited or inappropriate content—including violations of national laws and platform-specific rules—as well as the potential repercussions of sharing sensitive professional information or compromising images.

The second lecture focuses on fraud schemes used in social media environments, ranging from basic extortion involving compromised data to complex multi-stage catfishing operations. Participants will learn how to recognise such attacks, defend against them, and distinguish legitimate platforms from fraudulent ones.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes each.
Audience: general (12+).

Violence in the modern world has evolved. Once limited to physical space, it has increasingly moved into the digital realm, amplified by modern technologies. Digital abuse relies not on physical force, but on psychological manipulation. In most cases, attackers base their actions on personal data obtained about the victim—such as addresses, phone numbers, photos, or health-related information.

To gather this information, attackers use both open sources (such as social media profiles) and specialised malicious software, including monitoring and spyware tools. A significant portion of digital abuse also exploits gender or racial stereotypes.

This lecture examines the main forms of cyber abuse and provides practical strategies for responding to them. Topics include cyberbullying and its various forms (outing, fraping, diss-ing, etc.); both overt and subtle forms of gender- or race-based discrimination; online harassment, including in professional environments; cyberstalking—persistent online harassment; and fraud schemes based on gender or racial stereotypes, including phishing, blackmail, and coercion into criminal activities.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Audience: adults (18+).