In Russia they will begin to block calls from unregistered SIM cards.

The reason for the changes is the increase in fraud cases that are registered, including at the Central Bank. The Ministry of Digital Development and the operators themselves believe that the current control is sufficient.

The head of the “IT and IP dispute resolution” directorate of the “Rustam Kurmaev and Partners” law firm, Yaroslav Shitsle, stated that the document does not fully take into account the specifics of issuing phone numbers.

According to him, there is a practice according to which, in case of prolonged inactivity, the number is transferred to another subscriber. And it turns out that formally it may be listed as verified, but in reality it may be in the possession of a scammer. Similarly, the gray market for SIM cards has not disappeared, despite the fact that their registration is carried out upon presentation of the passport.

According to the Bank of Russia, Russians last year lost 14.2 billion rubles to phone fraud. The maximum amount stolen at one time reached 500 million rubles. In the second quarter of 2023, the number of transactions without customer consent approached 279.7 thousand, an increase of 28%.

• In July, Vladimir Putin signed a law requiring banks to monitor all money transfers from individuals for fraud. Suspicious transactions according to the bank will be suspended for two days. The law will enter into force one year after its official publication. If the bank allows the transfer of an individual to a fraudulent resource, it will be obligated to refund the funds to you within 30 days from the date of receipt of the individual’s request. The resource should be in a special database of the Bank of Russia, the document says.