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Read Full BioThe Russian Central Bank is set to launch a database of “droppers” – cash and card mules – in a bid to combat a rise in illegal online casinos.
Per the Russian state-owned newspaper RIA Novosti, the bank has worked on the database with the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring), the national anti-money laundering agency.
Russian Droppers Recruited by Illegal Casino Operators, Moscow Claims
Russian law enforcement agencies and credit institutions will access the database via a new platform, the Central Bank said.
The bank says that droppers are helping to finance shadow businesses like online casinos. Government officials claim that a growing number of unregulated online casinos have sprung up in Russia in recent years. Many of these, politicians claim, target younger smartphone users.
Bogdan Shablya, the head of the Central Bank’s financial monitoring and currency control department, said that mules conduct much of their business through small and medium-sized banks.
Shablya said the new database “will include a list of the droppers used to finance illicit businesses.”
New Guidelines Incoming
The department chief said that perpetrators are beginning to avoid larger banks with more sophisticated anti-money laundering protocols.
Shablya stated that instead, they prefer to open accounts with banks that the Central Bank considers ill-prepared to fight back.
“The droppers we are talking about are helping to finance shadow businesses. These businesses deal with the illegal purchase of cryptoassets and illegal betting in online casinos. They also trade drugs and pirated content,” Shablya said.
Shablya added that the Central Bank will follow up with legislation or new commercial banking guidelines.
He claimed that the Central Bank wants banks to refuse to open accounts for people whose names appear on the database.
Shablya explained: “We are also preparing a proposal to reduce the level of banking services made available for such individuals. This could restrict them from opening new accounts and possibly disconnect them from remote banking services.”
Moscow is growing increasingly concerned about the rise of droppers. Last month, RBC reported that the Central Bank has already collected information on some 700,00 suspected money mules.
The Central Bank and Rosfinmonitoring claim that criminal organizations, including Russian underground casino operators, are increasingly turning to teenagers in their search for new people to mule.
Fraudsters Targeting Young Russians
In previous comments, Shablya claimed that “about half” of all the people on the database are aged under 23. He said: “They usually live in regions where the income levels are lower than the national average.”
Shablya also claimed that illegal gangs know they can recruit for lower prices in these areas.
Lawmakers are poised to act. The State Duma is currently processing a draft bill to block banks from allowing teenagers aged 14 to 18 to open bank accounts without the consent of their legal representatives.
An explanatory note included with the bill states: “There has been a rise in the number of cases of financial fraud involving minors’ debit cards. Here, criminals buy bank cards from minors and use the cards to transfer funds stolen from fraud victims.”
Fraudsters Use New Schemes to Recruit New Russian Droppers
Experts have also claimed that fraudsters use a myriad of schemes to recruit people who are often unsuspecting.
They explain that some criminal networks try to dupe citizens by making what appear to be erroneous bank transfers.
Citizens unexpectedly receive 100,000 rubles (around $1,200) in their bank accounts. Then, they receive a phone call from someone who claims to have accidentally sent the money.
This individual then tells the unsuspecting citizen to return the money in exchange for a “goodwill gift” of 5,000 rubles ($61).
Central Bank officials claim that this recruitment method is becoming increasingly widespread. They warned citizens to report all such unexpected transfers to their banks.
Police are relatively powerless to punish individuals for transferring their bank cards to third parties. However, lawyers have warned that droppers could be charged as accomplices to certain crimes committed using their bank cards.
