According to him, there has been a recent increase in cases of fraud where criminals impersonate police officers, GKNB agents, bank employees, or representatives of the National Bank. The main feature of cyber fraud is that it occurs without physical contact — the perpetrators act through phone calls and messengers, applying psychological pressure on their victims.
“The most vulnerable are elderly people who grew up in the Soviet era and speak Russian fluently. The least number of such cases is registered among those who do not speak Russian. Often, victims themselves provide fraudsters with their personal data, as well as information about bank accounts and property. In some cases, citizens take out loans, sell property, and hand over the proceeds to the criminals,” Akylbekov said.
He added that stricter measures to combat cybercrime have been introduced at the legislative level. In August of last year, Article 209-1 was added to the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, establishing liability for the intentional transfer and sale of electronic payment means, electronic wallets, virtual assets, and SIM cards to third parties. The representative of the City Police noted that citizens often create conditions for crimes themselves by registering bank cards in their names and, for a small reward, handing over access to them to fraudsters.
Particular attention was paid to the security of SIM cards. Law enforcement agencies urge citizens not to provide access to messengers such as WhatsApp, which are linked to their personal numbers, as fraudsters can use them to deceive people anywhere in the world.
According to Aliskhan Akylbekov, from August 2023 to the end of 2025, the cyber units of the Bishkek City Police and district departments identified and detained 116 "droppers" — individuals who sold their bank cards. Of these, 30 were brought to criminal responsibility. In his opinion, this indicates a decrease in the number of cybercrimes involving bank cards after the introduction of the new article.
