Russia will ban the sale of SIM cards issued to other subscribers

A ban on the sale of SIM cards already registered to other subscribers is being introduced in Russia as part of the third package of measures against cyber fraudsters, the Ministry of Digital Development reported.

“The sale of SIM cards already registered to other subscribers will be prohibited. This measure will allow us to quickly stop the illegal sale on the Internet of numbers registered to other individuals, legal entities and individual entrepreneurs,” the department reported on its Max channel.

The ministry assured that telephone scammers will not be able to use other people's SIM cards for illegal purposes.

Earlier on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko told RIA Novosti that the third package of measures against cyber fraudsters is in the final stage of development, it will include almost 20 initiatives, and the emphasis will be on combating SIM card schemes. It will be submitted to the State Duma in the autumn session.

The Russian government is actively working to protect citizens by introducing measures to counter telephone and online scammers. Thus, the first package of measures to protect against fraudsters came into force in June 2025. It includes about 30 initiatives, which are being introduced in stages. Russians also got the opportunity to refuse SMS mailings and spam calls.