Sberbank recorded a record volume of illegal transfers from Russian cryptocurrency exchanges

According to senior executive Stanislav Kuznetsov, in September alone the amount of transfers in digital assets amounted to 500 million Russian rubles

16.02.2023 - 11:00

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What’s new? Stanislav Kuznetsov, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board at Sberbank, speaking at the Ural Forum “Cybersecurity in Finance,” said that the bank has recorded record volumes of illegal transfers to crypto accounts from Russian crypto exchanges. According to him, there are trading platforms in “Moscow City,” where intermediaries of crypto scammers bring the cashed out money and send it to other countries without presenting passports.”

Material by TASS

What else did Kuznetsov say? The bank’s senior executive clarified that “droppers illegally transfer money to Ukraine, where in any currency, they withdraw it and use it in hostilities against Russia.” He said that in September, Sberbank “recorded a record figure of 500 million Russian rubles for the transfer of money to crypto accounts in the form of bitcoins” on legally operating crypto exchanges.

Earlier, the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation proposed to toughen penalties for intermediaries of crypto scammers. In this case, droppers could face up to seven years in prison. Currently, droppers are prosecuted under Article 172 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal banking activities”).

The Bank of Russia warned that crypto scammers open real offices, where they offer “special platforms” to bypass financial restrictions. In 2022, Russians began to buy other people’s accounts on crypto exchanges more often to bypass sanctions. Experts pointed out the unreliability of such services, as the real owner of the account can return access to it.

In addition, services to return blocked crypto assets of Russians have appeared on the dark web, and there is also a risk of encountering scammers when applying for them.

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