Evidence 1. October 12, 2025
A 43-year-old woman named B.T. was arrested in the Songinokhairkhan District for committing fraud using the Telegram and Facebook platforms. B.T. allegedly posted fake advertisements, organized lottery scams on Facebook, and deceived citizens through tasks assigned via Telegram. Police investigations revealed that over the past year, she conducted 1,533 transactions, causing a total loss of 2.8 billion MNT to victims.
Evidence 2. October 16, 2025
Citizens who connected online in response to an ad saying “Complete tasks through Telegram and earn money” collectively lost 163 million MNT. Five individuals, aged between 31 and 34, were defrauded through this fake advertisement. Authorities report that 25 to 30 cases of similar online fraud are registered every day.
Evidence 3. October 23, 2025
A 33-year-old woman named B.S. was arrested in the Bayangol District for using Telegram to defraud citizens through fake online advertisements since 2020. She had been posting deceptive ads such as “Selling hay and fodder”, “Apartment for rent”, “Selling fuel”, and “Currency exchange available”. She had been wanted by police 52 times and, since 2023, had been listed as wanted nationwide 12 times.
Evidence 4. October 28, 2025
A 23-year-old man identified as B was arrested for exploiting sensitive information from people who had previously sought donations or assistance online. Using a fake Facebook account under the name “Batka Batka”, he defrauded 282 individuals. Since April, he has been reposting genuine donation requests, adding his own or his associates’ bank account numbers to mislead and deceive people.
Since the beginning of this year, 921 cases have been recorded nationwide involving fraudsters who used donation or assistance requests on social media as a means to scam others.
ONLINE SCAMMERS HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR ANYONE
According to the Public Computer Security Incident Response Team, 85.3 percent of Ulaanbaatar City residents and 67.6 percent of people in rural areas use the internet. Although Mongolia’s population is 3.5 million, there are 4.5 million internet users, meaning many people access the internet through more than one smart device.
However, data from the 2022 household and population information and ICT usage survey shows that only 43.8 percent of the population possess basic digital skills, and just 21.3 percent have knowledge of cyber safety. This indicates that many smart devices and internet users lack the skills needed to protect themselves from online threats and risks. In other words, improper use of technology greatly increases the likelihood of falling victim to online fraud.
As of the first nine months of 2025, police have registered 15,000 fraud cases, accounting for 35 percent of all crimes nationwide. Furthermore, 87 percent of crimes committed online are fraud-related. Law enforcement officials continuously warn that this type of crime is spreading rapidly and that the amount of financial damage is growing each year.
To illustrate the alarming trend, in 2015, Mongolia recorded only 17 cases of online fraud. 10 years later, in the first nine months of this year, the number has skyrocketed to 9,755 cases, resulting in total damages of 53 billion MNT.
With cybercrime increasing at lightning speed, anyone can fall victim. Those with limited understanding of online safety and those drawn by the promise of easy money are especially at high risk of becoming targets of such scams.
CRIMES TARGETING RURAL CITIZENS
Online scammers can cast their bait from anywhere in the world, regardless of location. They skillfully adapt their fraudulent schemes to the season, current events, and public demand. For instance, when fuel shortages occurred, they posted fake ads such as “Fuel for sale” and deceived many citizens. Another common scheme involved advertisements claiming “Vehicle inspection available”, which defrauded around 270 individuals.
Similarly, during the autumn season, scammers post fake ads offering to secure spots in kindergartens or schools, rent out houses, fences, apartments, or dormitory rooms, and, as winter approaches, to sell hay, fodder, or refined coal. Such deceptive ads have caused significant financial losses for citizens nationwide. Among these, online shopping scams are the most frequently reported—people lose money after ordering products from fraudulent online stores.
Exploiting people’s needs, trust, and desires, scammers continue to deceive citizens with false promises such as “We can include you in pension benefits” or “We can increase your loan application limit”. This trend has recently intensified in rural areas.
For example, a young herder from one province was tricked out of 60 million MNT after he tried to order a large truck from Erlian. People who lack proper knowledge about digital safety and do not use smartphones wisely are becoming prime targets. Scammers design fake ads suited to these individuals’ lifestyles, exploiting their trust and draining their savings.
It is almost unimaginable that a single scammer could steal 2.8 billion MNT, yet such cases are now real. Many offenders have turned fraud into their main source of income. Under Mongolia’s Criminal Code, those who commit fraud are subject to punishment. The nationwide detection rate for fraud-related crimes currently stands at 42.7 percent.
According to the police, since the beginning of this year, 2,318 complaints involving damages totaling 18.8 billion MNT have been registered from both individuals and legal entities. Authorities have frozen 11.4 billion MNT worth of fraudulent transactions and, in cooperation with prosecutors and courts, have recovered 1.33 billion MNT in damages for 617 victims.
WILL WE CONTINUE TO BE EASY PREY FOR SCAMMERS?
With dozens of online scams occurring daily and multiple victims affected simultaneously, it is clear that law enforcement alone cannot handle the growing threat. The most effective form of protection is for citizens themselves to safeguard their personal information, ensure their online safety, and verify information before taking action.
At the very least, people should avoid posting their phone numbers under advertisements, ignore suspicious calls from unknown or multiple numbers, and understand that renting out one’s bank account to others is a punishable offense.
As technology advances, online fraud has become a global issue. Many countries have implemented legal and systemic measures to protect their citizens. For example, Singapore launched its “Anti-Scam Command” program in 2022, establishing an Anti-Scam Center that unites police, banks, and mobile service providers. As a result, online fraud cases dropped by 15 percent in 2023. If a user clicks on a suspicious link, banks automatically freeze their account for safety. Meanwhile, Japan began testing a system in 2023 that uses artificial intelligence to automatically screen calls and messages. When potential fraud is detected, the system alerts the user. During the testing period, phone-based scams decreased by 40 percent.
In contrast, although Mongolia implements various public awareness programs, they have yet to yield significant results. Unless the population’s digital literacy and cyber awareness improve, citizens will continue to be bait for opportunistic scammers. It is also time to reassess the penalties and legal consequences imposed on cyber fraudsters, who deliberately and cold-heartedly exploit others for profit.
B.UUGANBAYAR: ‘Online scammers always leave digital traces’
Senior Investigator and Police Major B.Uuganbayar, who has extensive experience investigating cyber fraud cases, shared his insights into the rising trends, methods, and challenges of online scams, as well as the efforts being made by law enforcement to trace digital evidence and strengthen preventive measures.
What types of cyber fraud are the most common?
Fraud is one of the three most common crimes in our country. Of more than 38,000 crimes recorded this year, about 15,000 were fraud. Moreover, over 80 percent of those occurred online. For example, people are deceived in many ways: being asked to complete tasks via Telegram, having money solicited after someone accesses their Facebook account, organizers setting up fake donation or assistance appeals, and fake online orders for goods or services.
Scammers also tailor their schemes to current events and seasons to match people’s interests. For instance, someone recently posted a 3D photo as a story, then claimed they could order a statue of it from China, and used that to defraud people. There are also cases where scammers sold so-called indraneelam stones in live streams and cheated viewers; when police uncovered the truth, the stones were found to be gold-plated or otherwise altered. They operate without showing their faces and often use rental bank accounts, the same modus operandi repeated over and over.
How effective is detection of these crimes? Do cyber-scammers leave traces like ‘digital footprints’?
How could they not leave traces? Every crime leaves some trace. When an offence is committed using electronic devices, it inevitably leaves digital traces. For example, an IP address can show where the connection originated, and there are traces showing whether money was transferred online. Lately, instead of simply receiving money into bank accounts, scammers increasingly convert victims’ funds into e-money or cryptocurrencies, transfer funds to international electronic wallets, and then withdraw them. In other words, investigators have found cases where victims’ money was converted into global cryptocurrencies and moved to crypto wallets.
Because this type of crime has grown so much, the police reorganized the structure: the department that used to investigate fraud was expanded into the Center for Combating Fraud, which now includes the Investigative Division and the Criminal Police Division. This change allows criminal police to conduct operational actions and directly detect online fraud. A sign the effort is working is that in the past month many long-running fraudsters who had been wanted were arrested. Once operational investigative lines were used, live-stream sales fraud decreased.
However, because online fraud is borderless, attacks continue to be carried out from outside Mongolia using foreign servers. To combat cybercrime, in 2023 the police established the Response Unit for Cyber Attacks and Fraud, which works with banks and the financial sector to monitor and restrict asset transfers.
