Fraudsters began trying to deceive Russians using the old scheme
Experts warn of criminal liability for participation in droppership
Quick Look
- Telegram is spreading offers to rent access to bank personal accounts under the pretext of purchasing goods.
- The Ministry of Internal Affairs warns that this is a fraudulent dropper scheme that threatens to block accounts and imprisonment for up to 20 years.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Droppership is the use of citizens' accounts to withdraw criminal proceeds. Previously, the Ministry of Internal Affairs repeatedly warned about the danger of transferring access to personal accounts to third parties.
In Telegram channels and their chats, offers to earn money are actively published with the provision of rented access to a personal account (PA) in the bank. The message states that access to your personal account at the bank is only necessary for purchasing goods on the marketplace.
“The ransom will be made from your personal account, from my funds. You just get money for rent,” the message circulated says. It is also indicated that such earnings are available from the age of 14.
Many of these messages indicate that the work is provided by a certain Christina, but the posts are made from different accounts. To ensure authenticity and quickly attract people, trigger words are used: “Legal, safe, no risks. Payments are made daily, first payment in 5 minutes.”
This fraudulent scheme is not new. Residents of the country have been warned about it more than once. This scheme was also popular last year. Then the Russians were warned that this was droppership. The department for organizing the fight against illegal use of information and communication technologies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs explained that this is how scammers are looking for droppers to withdraw money obtained by criminal means.
“Security guarantees are a lie. The citizen who transferred access to the personal account faces financial losses (blocking of accounts) and criminal liability,” the department indicated.
As for criminal punishment, for an attempt to involve in droppership, Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Part 5 is provided. According to it, the punishment is up to 6 years in prison.
At the same time, when using funds to sponsor the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the dropper can be prosecuted under more serious articles - 205.1, 205.5, 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Promotion of terrorist activities”, “Organization of the activities of a terrorist organization and participation in the activities of such an organization”, “High treason”). In this case, the punishment can be up to 20 years in prison.
Russian media have also previously written about the dangers of renting bank cards and access to a bank’s personal account. NEWS.ru, RT, 360.ru and others warned about this.
Open Questions
- What is the real scale of involvement of minors in this scheme?
