During the Ural Forum “Cybersecurity in Finance”, the chairman of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina emphasized that combating credit fraud should be a top priority for both the regulator and credit organizations this year. She highlighted that the rise of social engineering is leading to an increase in financial crimes due to the inadequate presence of effective barriers.
Nabiullina revealed that every fourth ruble stolen from banks is related to borrowed funds. In 2023, scammers managed to steal 15.8 billion rubles from bank customers, with banks only being able to recover 8.7% of the stolen amount. More and more individuals are falling victim to attackers, applying for million-ruble loans and then transferring the received funds to the scammers. This not only results in significant financial losses for the victims, but also poses a serious threat to their lives due to the burden of massive debts that will need to be repaid over several years.
To address this pressing issue, the Central Bank has put forward three main proposals:
- Introduction of a “cooling period” for large loans, similar to the mechanism that will be implemented from July 2024 for money transfers. Nabiullina suggests implementing this measure for loans starting at 1 million rubles. The head of the Central Bank clarified, “We propose starting with a million rubles, but the amount and duration of the cooling period can be discussed. The key is to create a gap between loan approval and fund disbursement.” It is important to note that starting from July 25, 2024, amendments to the Law on the National Payment System will grant banks the authority to temporarily block suspicious transfers for two days, providing advance notice to customers. During this period, customers can confirm or decline the transaction if they suspect it is influenced by scammers.
- Construct