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Main article: Lending in Russia
2024
The Government of the Russian Federation approved a self-guarantee for the issuance of consumer loans
In October 2024, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree regulating the procedure for self-recording citizens to receive consumer loans and microloans. The new mechanism will come into force on March 1, 2025, providing Russians with an additional tool to control their finances.
According to information published on the official website of the Russian Government, citizens will be able to apply for self-recording in two ways. The first is through a single portal of public services, where notification of the decision will be available in the user's personal account. The second method involves a personal appeal to a multifunctional center (MPSC), while information about the decision of the credit bureau will be provided both through the MPSC and displayed in your personal account on the public services portal.
The government noted that citizens will be able to use the self-recording service an unlimited number of times. The procedure for removing the self-recording will be carried out in the same ways as its establishment. Information about the self-recording will be included in the citizen's credit history.
 | This decree is part of the implementation of the new norms of the federal laws "On Credit Histories" and "On Consumer Credit," adopted in February 2024. These legislative changes are aimed at increasing the financial literacy of the population and preventing excessive debt burden of citizens, the government said. |  |
The introduction of a self-recording mechanism can lead to changes in the consumer lending market. In the short term, it is possible to reduce the volume of consumer loans. However, in the long term, this measure may help improve the credit market and reduce the level of problem debt.[1]
Hackers who issued loans through hacked Public services were detained in St. Petersburg
Employees of the criminal investigation department of St. Petersburg detained two young people suspected of a series of frauds using the Public services portal. The attackers hacked into the personal accounts of citizens and issued loans in their names. Information about the detention and the scheme of crimes was released in October 2024.
The press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region reported the detention of a 19-year-old St. Petersburg resident and his 20-year-old accomplice from the Pskov Region. The suspects were involved in ten episodes of fraud, for each of which criminal cases were initiated under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which were subsequently combined into one proceeding.
The crime scheme involved several stages. At first, the attackers purchased inactive SIM-cards of various operators and using special software checked the numbers for registered accounts on the Public services portal. When a "binding" of a phone to a personal account is detected, hackers were authorized through SMS messages, gaining access to personal data of citizens.
Using the information received, fraudsters issued loans and installments on the websites of marketplaces and microfinance organizations. The funds were withdrawn to the accounts of criminals. According to operational data, the total amount of illegally received funds amounted to about ₽500 thousand.
During searches of the places of residence of the suspects, bank cards, computer equipment and SIM cards were seized. One of the defendants also found narcotic substances aimed at examination.
Both suspects are under house arrest. Law enforcement agencies continue to investigate, identifying possible accomplices and additional episodes of criminal activity.[2]
Fraudsters began to issue loans for Russians through "Банки.ру"
On January 24, 2024, it became known about a credit fraud scheme through the Банки.ру financial marketplace. To do this, the criminals convince the victims to dictate the code to them from SMS. Read more here.
2023
Fraudsters in Russia have introduced a new scheme for issuing loans in someone else's name
On May 19, 2023, it became known about a new loan fraud scheme in Russia. It is possible that with the help of a new scam, attackers are preparing to bypass the upcoming legislative protection measures, including self-recording for issuing loans and blocking suspicious accounts.
Izvestia was told about the essence of the new scheme. Some banks have online loan questionnaires on their websites. Attackers fill out such a questionnaire for their dummy person - the so-called drop. But at the same time, they indicate the phone number of the potential victim, and the application is tied to her number. The confirmation code comes to this number.
Then the criminals call the victim on behalf of the bank employees and lure the code out of the SMS. The loan application is sent to the bank. After that, the scammers get the fooled person to name another confirmation code needed to sign the documents. As a result, the money goes to the drop account, and the victim remains owed to the bank.
Fraudsters make the first call, as a rule, through a messenger or through regular telephone communication. If the interlocutor does not believe that a bank employee communicates with him, then the attacker calls back via video link, depicting the service from the bank office. As a result, the "victim" remains in no doubt about the credibility and seriousness of the caller's words.
As the coordinator of the Moshelovka resource Evgenia Lazareva told Izvestia, the attackers are watching the agenda more closely than others and adjusting their actions to it. The weak point is the online questionnaire on the websites of organizations.
| | In fact, there is no need to especially convince the victim - just the loan is approved, and confirm. Trust is caused by the fact that SMS comes from the bank - reported in Moshelovka. | |
Lawyers interviewed by the publication believe that in the event of the implementation of such a fraudulent scheme, with a high degree of probability, the "extreme" will not be the owner of a mobile phone, and not even an intermediary.[3]
Russia is preparing a law that allows you to ban yourself from taking loans
Russia In developed a draft law allowing citizens to prohibit themselves. credits This "" RIA Novosti was told in the press service. CENTRAL BANK What became known on January 24, 2023.
The bill, securing the mechanism of self-recording for loans and loans, has already passed interdepartmental approval, received conceptual market support and is preparing to be submitted to the State Duma.
As the vice-president of the Association of Banks of Russia Alexei Voilukov noted, if the bill is adopted, then citizens, having entered the "Public services," will be able to put a ban or restriction on receiving loans or loans. The self-recording on "Public services" will automatically fall into the credit bureau. He also added that credit organizations "conceptually agree" with such a mechanism.
The regulator proposed introducing this mechanism in 2022. It is supposed to act on all professional lenders, not just the bank where the person has an account. Thanks to the mechanism, citizens will be able to protect themselves from fraudsters who can potentially apply for a loan using stolen personal data[4] from [5].
The Supreme Court of Russia invalidated loans approved by SMS
In January 2023, the Supreme Court of Russia invalidated the loan, which was approved via SMS. The instance satisfied the client's complaint, invalidating the loan agreement, which she, not suspecting, issued for fraudsters.
In March 2020, on the day of the conclusion of the loan agreement, fraudsters called the client and introduced themselves as employees of Home Credit Finance (HKF), specifying whether she left the application for a loan, said the victim's lawyer Ekaterina Derenskaya. The client responded negatively, to which she was asked to provide two codes, which allegedly should have confirmed that the application had not really been submitted. She complied with the request of the scammers.
As a result, the bank remotely entered into an insurance contract with the client and approved a loan for more than 200 thousand rubles. at almost 19% per annum. After that, the funds were withdrawn to an unknown account. The plaintiff demanded that the court declare the contract invalid, indicating that she did not conclude this deal. However, the girl was refused in three instances, noting that she should not have reported SMS codes to anyone. In the Supreme Court, the plaintiff explained that she did not plan to take out a loan, and confirmed the code "mechanically."
The HKF considers the client herself to be to blame for the fact that third parties took out a loan for her. When issuing loans through remote banking channels, secure services (personal account) are used, the client receives several SMS messages indicating the purpose of the transaction, and they always begin with the words "Do not call anyone a code...," the bank explained to Kommersant. But in this case, the client herself called the codes to fraudsters, added to the credit institution.
As a result, the Supreme Court of Russia satisfied the woman's complaint, recognizing the loan agreement that she issued for fraudsters via SMS as null and void. Izaniya notes that now bank customers have a real chance to challenge remotely issued loans issued on them by fraudsters using social engineering.[6]
2022
How anti-fraud systems help fight credit fraud
Main article: Anti-fraud systems in the fight against credit fraud
The Central Bank proposed a mechanism for self-recording on the issuance of loans to counter fraudsters
To counter fraudsters, the Bank of Russia has proposed a mechanism for self-recording loans. The Central Bank announced this on June 14, 2022.
A person will be able to protect himself from a situation where fraudsters in his name draw up a loan or loan. To do this, you will need to fix a special ban in your credit history.
This mechanism will reduce the risk of cybercriminals using leaks of personal data of citizens, including copies of passports, logins, passwords, and so on. To implement it, the Bank of Russia prepared the necessary legislative proposals and sent them for interdepartmental approval.
| | Banks and microfinance organizations (MFIs) will have to check the presence of self-restrictions in the borrower's credit history before issuing loans and loans. And if, despite the fact that they act, the creditor will still issue money, he will not be able to demand repayment of the debt, - said Mikhail Mamuta, head of the Consumer Protection and Financial Services Accessibility Service of the Bank of Russia. | |
It is assumed that the restrictions may be different: by the type of creditor (bank or MFI), the method of circulation (remotely or in the office), as well as on all or certain types of loans and loans.
| | If desired, a person will be able to set and remove such restrictions for free as many times as desired, depending on the life situation. It is enough to contact any qualified credit bureau (including through the Public services website), bank or MFIs, - said Alexei Lukovnikov, Director of the Bank of Russia Data Management Department. | |
Detailed conditions for the operation of this mechanism will be established by a regulatory act of [7] Bank of Russia[8].
The Central Bank forbade banks to use a phone call instead of a signature to conclude loan agreements
On February 4, 2022 , the Central Bank of the Russian Federation sent a letter to banks and other financial institutions, in which it declared the inadmissibility of using phone calls instead of signing when concluding loan agreements.
The regulator noted that he revealed several cases when some creditors consider the agreement concluded without receiving the signature of the borrower. For example, the bank without prior notice sends a credit card to a person by mail, and recognizes a citizen's phone call about card activation as a "signature" under such an agreement. In some situations, these cards fall into the wrong hands, which creates the risk of fraud and personal data leakage. Such practices contradict the law and can lead to a violation of consumer rights, the Central Bank said.
In addition to the improper conclusion of the agreement, a change in the lending limit can also negatively affect the solvency and financial position of the borrower, the Central Bank notes. Therefore, they were offered several ways to make changes to the loan agreement, which imply their mandatory agreement with the borrower, and also give him the opportunity to refuse changes.
| | At the same time, since changing the credit limit under a consumer loan agreement may negatively affect the borrower's solvency and financial position, according to the Bank of Russia, it may be best practice to change the credit limit in one of the following ways: making changes to the individual conditions of the consumer loan agreement (formation and coordination with the borrower of individual conditions with a new limit); according to the procedure established by the individual terms of the consumer loan agreement, provided that such procedure provides for preliminary approval by the lender and the borrower of the new credit limit. At the same time, the borrower should have the opportunity to refuse to change the lending limit, - said in the letter. | |
2020: A surge in embezzlement of pre-approved loans began in Russia
At the end of October 2020, it became known about a surge in embezzlement of pre-approved loans in Russia. Swindlers, using social engineering methods, convince Russians to issue such a loan and then transfer money to the accounts of cybercriminals.
Fraudsters are represented by bank employees and inform the bank's client that a loan is being issued for it. Hearing that it is not the client himself who takes it, the swindlers convince to install a special application to cancel the application, through which the loan is drawn up and the money is withdrawn. As a result, the victim is left with a debt to the bank, which is almost impossible to challenge.
| | Such frauds are now widespread, and criminals are increasingly aimed not at account balances, but at loans available to the client, - told RBC in Alfa-Bank. | |
The deputy head of the department information protection Gazprombank Alexey Pleshkov confirm to the publication a "significant" increase in the number of cases of fraud using social engineering methods to obtain pre-approved loans. According to him, the first cases of such deception were registered by Gazprombank in the second half of 2019.
For ten months of 2020, the total income from such attacks is in the hundreds of millions of rubles. Fraudsters call bank customers using databases to access their name, phone number and the bank in which they are served.
One of the victims told RBC that in her case, the scammers did not ask to install a remote access program, but found out only the code from SMS. According to her, they knew in advance the amount of the pre-approved loan. In Kaspersky Lab, in this case, fraudsters could gain access not to a mobile application, but to the client's Internet banking, tricking them into finding out all the necessary login information.[9]
2016
OKB: Losses from "credit fraud" exceeded 13.67 billion rubles
Analysts EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN BUREAU calculated the losses of credit institutions from the actions of alleged fraudsters for 2016. For potentially fraudulent loans (hereinafter referred to as "bad" loans), those for which there was absolutely no payment within four months from the date of issuance of the loan were accepted.
In total, more than 334 thousand or 1.3% of the total number of loans issued in 2016 were issued. In the money, the losses of credit institutions exceeded 13.67 billion rubles. Compared to 2015, the number of "bad" loans increased by 33%, and the volume of losses increased by 1%. In 2015, there were more than 252 thousand "bad" loans (1.1% of the total number issued) in the amount of at least 13.56 billion rubles.
At the same time, the share of "bad" loans in the total volume of loans decreased over the year from 0.5% to 0.4%. The average size of the "bad" loan also decreased from 54 to 41 thousand rubles.
The largest monetary losses in absolute terms were noted in the Central Federal District - 3.38 billion rubles. Compared to 2015, the volume of losses increased by 11%: from 2.98 billion rubles, but the share of losses in the total volume of issues remained at the level of 0.3%. The average size of the "bad" loan increased over the year from 54.6 to 55.6 thousand rubles.
The highest share of cash losses was recorded in the Far Eastern Federal District, where it amounted to 0.9% of the total volume of loans issued in the region or 1.35 billion rubles. The same federal district became the record holder for the increase in the volume of bad loans. Compared to last year, the volume of cash losses in the district increased by 81%: a year ago it amounted to 750 million rubles. or 0.7% of the total volume of loans issued in the district. Also in the Far Eastern Federal District, the highest "average check" for a "fraudulent" loan was noted: over the year it grew from 91 to 120 thousand rubles.
The largest number of "bad loans" in absolute terms was recorded in the Volga Federal District: 76 thousand units. Or 1.4% of the total number of issues in the amount of 2.11 billion rubles. or 0.4% of the volume of loans issued. Compared to last year, the volume of losses decreased by 6%: from 2.23 billion rubles. or 0.5% of the total volume of issues. The average size of the "bad" loan decreased from 38.3 to 27.7 thousand rubles.
Credit institutions in the North Caucasus Federal District suffered the least losses in absolute terms. At the end of 2016, the volume of losses amounted to 461.04 million rubles. or 0.5% of the total volume of loans issued in the region. Compared to 2015, the volume of losses increased by 14%, a year earlier they amounted to 405.32 million rubles. or 0.6% of the volume of issues. The number of "bad" loans in 2016 amounted to 11.3 thousand or 1.3% of the total number of loans. The average loan size decreased from 56.7 to 40.7 thousand rubles.
The lowest share of cash losses was noted in the North-West and Central federal districts, where it amounted to 0.3% of the total loans issued in the district. In the Central District, the volume of losses for the year increased by 14%: from 2.96 to 3.38 billion rubles. In the North-West Federal District, the volume of cash losses increased by 18%: from 921.8 million to 1.08 billion rubles. At the same time, their share in the total volume of loans issued remained at the level of 0.3%. The average size of the "bad" loan in the Northwestern Federal District decreased from 63.6 to 56.3 thousand rubles.
In the Ural Federal District, the volumes are noted the most significant decrease in the volume of money losses from fraudsters. Over the year, they decreased by 36%: from 1.69 to 1.08 billion rubles. The share of "bad" loans in the total volume of loans for the year decreased from 0.7% to 0.3%. The average size of the "bad" loan decreased from 58.6 to 31.3 thousand rubles.
In the Southern Federal District, the volume of cash losses for 2016 amounted to 1.43 billion rubles. or 0.6% of the volume of issues for the year. This is 10% more than last year, when banks in the region lost about 1.29 billion rubles. The average loan size decreased from 44.9 to 34 thousand rubles.
NBCH: Banks issued more than 1 million loans with signs of fraud
On March 6, 2017, NBCH reported an increase in credit fraud rates in Russia by 69.5% in 2016.
According to the conclusions of the bureau, in 2016, Russian banks issued 1,010,7 thousand loans with signs of fraud (loans for which there is no first payment or FPD - first payment default), which is 69.5% more than in 2015. The data was generated on the basis of information from 4 thousand creditors transmitting information to the National Bureau of Credit Histories (NBCH).
At the same time, in relation to the total number of loans issued in 2016, the share of loans with signs of fraud amounted to 3.4%, while in 2015 - 2.3%.
The largest activity of fraudsters in 2016 fell on the 3rd quarter - 394.4 thousand units.
| | In 2016, a sharp increase in credit fraud was recorded. At the same time, we note a change in the tactics of fraudsters - the attacks are aimed mainly at small lenders and MFIs that do not yet use intersectoral services that counteract credit fraud. In turn, in large banks and MFIs connected to the fraud prevention system, NBKI-AFS we note a decrease in the number of loans issued with FPD (first payment default - delay of the first payment). Therefore, for all creditors, the most important task is the active introduction of appropriate fraud prevention services. In addition, full access of creditors to state databases is needed to more effectively suppress the actions of fraudulent groups. | |
Share of loans with signs of fraud from the total number of loans issued (right scale), (2016)]]
See also
- Debt for telecommunications services (Debts of Russians for communication services)
- Debt for housing and communal services
- Recourse and Subregulation Indebtedness in Russia
- Amount of overdue debt on loans in Russia
- Lending in Russia
- Corruption (fraud, bribes): Russia and the world
- Crime in Russia
- Information Security - Fraud Detection System (Fraud)
- Unified database on property and accounts of Russians
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