The key facts
- Interior Ministry: prepayment does not guarantee receiving the goods or getting money back
- Transfers to a personal card and via anonymous payment services are dangerous
- A photo of the seller's passport is not a reliable guarantee of a safe deal
Prepayment Gives No Guarantees
Buying goods online with full or partial prepayment may end in losing money, Russia's Interior Ministry warned. The ministry emphasized that the very fact of transferring funds guarantees the buyer neither receiving the order nor getting the spent amount back. “Remember that when transferring money as prepayment, you have no guarantees of getting it back or receiving the goods,” the Interior Ministry's materials say.
Alarming Signs of a Seller
Police recommend exercising particular caution if the seller insists on using electronic money, anonymous payment systems, or a transfer to a card registered to an individual. A suspiciously low price of the goods can also be an alarming signal: if the price differs noticeably from offers in other stores, the buyer should check the seller more carefully before paying.
Delivery, Description and Behavior
The Interior Ministry also advises paying attention to delivery methods: the inability to pick up the purchase in person or receive it via courier may indicate an increased risk of fraud. Errors in the product description, contradictory specifications, or discrepancies between the published information and the actual properties of the goods should raise suspicion. Excessive pushiness from the seller, attempts to rush the payment, and reluctance to provide full contact details may also indicate that the store is unscrupulous.
A Passport Photo Is Not a Guarantee
A photograph of a passport that the seller sends to confirm their identity is not a reliable guarantee of a safe deal: such a document may belong to another person or be used without the owner's knowledge. The Interior Ministry recommends thoroughly checking information about the store before paying, especially on unfamiliar websites and in cases where the seller refuses standard methods of placing and receiving an order.
Context of Previous Schemes
According to Life.ru, fraudsters have repeatedly used prepayment and reduced prices to deceive buyers in the past. In August 2026, the outlet reported on fake online stores of school supplies, where money was stolen from buyers after they entered their banking details. Specialists of the Moshelovka project warned about fake sales by well-known retail chains advertised on social media. In March, experts described a scheme with personalized offers on marketplaces: criminals offered goods a person was interested in at a lower price and sent a link for prepayment, after which the buyer was left without the order. As of October 1, 2026, the rules for marketplaces' operation in Russia changed, including the procedure for handling buyers' claims against sellers.
