Publication date: 20 Jan 2022

The Russian State Duma has begun drafting a bill on a register of droppers that will only be able to transfer funds with a passport at the bank. This list will be part of the Central Bank’s Know Your Client (KYC) anti-money laundering platform. Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, said.

Who are droppers (drops)? These are individuals or legal entities whose accounts are used to withdraw money but which was stolen by criminals from banks.

The fight against droppers in Russia: expert opinions

• Earlier, Bank of Russia deputy chairman Dmitry Skobelkin said that individual clients will be included in the KYC platform, but not before 2023.
• Evgenia Lazareva, the head of the People’s Front project “For the Borrower’s Rights”, is worried that a large number of clients may suffer due to the lack of a rehabilitation mechanism when launched (i.e., a mechanism to exit the register of droppers must be thought through).

Earlier, Sberbank revealed how many Russians help fraudsters to cash out. According to the bank experts, about half a million people in Russia are droppers. Stanislav Kuznetsov, deputy chairman of the Bank’s Board, said such fraudsters are visible, but there are very few opportunities to prove the crime committed. Kuznetsov states that most of them are young people, students, filling out bank cards in their own names and selling them even through advertisements in newspapers.