At the call of duty: how self-locking on loans will change the tactics of scammers
Since March 1, residents of Russia have had the opportunity to apply for self—locking loans - according to the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Elvira Nabiullina, as of March 5, more than 4 million people have already used this option. However, according to experts, fraudsters can come up with new tricks to try to apply for loans to Russians in these conditions. The details are in the Izvestia article.
How will the introduction of self-locking on loans affect fraudsters
Self-locking on loans will significantly complicate the activities of intruders, according to Dmitry Dudkov, a specialist in countering financial fraud at F6. If a person blocks the possibility of applying for new loans in advance, fraudsters will not be able to obtain loans on their behalf, even if they get hold of their passport data or other personal information, including from the potential victim himself.
Bogdan Zvarich, chief analyst of the <url> financial marketplace, recalls that the cancellation of the self-lock will not be effective immediately, but a day after making the appropriate mark in the credit history. For those who do not apply for a self—lock, from September 1, 2025, the cooling—off period (delayed issuance) will be active - for loan amounts from 50 to 200 thousand rubles, it will be four hours, and for amounts above 200 thousand rubles - 48 hours.
According to the expert, both tools will allow a person to get time within which he can consult with relatives and friends, as well as contact law enforcement agencies.
Plus, self-locking on loans will protect citizens in whose name fraudsters try to apply for a loan without their participation: a bank or microfinance organization (MFO) will check whether a self-lock is installed before issuing a loan, and if it is available, they will not be able to issue a loan. However, one should not expect that scammers will give up trying to force a person to take out a bank loan or a microloan, says Alexander Honin, head of consulting and auditing at Angara Security.
"The attackers will simply change tactics,— says Izvestia's source. — However, in order to now "illegally" apply for a loan or a microloan, they will have to make more efforts, and in most cases simply abandon such actions.
How will the tactics of scammers change against the background of the introduction of self-locking
Due to the introduction of the self-locking option, the fraud scenario can be adjusted, says Marina Probets, an Internet analyst and expert at Gazinformservice. In particular, attackers may focus on more sophisticated methods of gaining access to citizens' accounts, for example, by strengthening phishing attacks, as well as developing more convincing social engineering schemes to obtain data or hack into accounts of "Public Services."
"In addition, scammers may try to gain access to victims' mobile devices in order to intercept SMS messages with confirmation codes, or target less secure services where self—locking is not implemented," says the Izvestia interlocutor. — In general, the appearance of self-locking will force scammers to adapt and look for new ways to circumvent security mechanisms.
Globally, little will change in the actions of scammers, since their main weapon is social engineering, says Alexander Samsonov, a leading expert at the Security Code development and testing department. The specialist suggests that the attackers will probably just invent new legends or change old ones, and will also focus on persuading the potential victim to remove the self-lock.
According to Alexander Khonin, this can be done easily by accessing the victim's personal account on Gosuslugi. Therefore, there may be more variations on the theme "A bank employee is calling you, let's set a self—lock, tell us the code". The attacks will take longer, so there will be new reasons to "convince or force" the victim to remain silent and wait for the very time until the self-lock is lifted.
"In addition, attackers may increase their interest in electronic signatures of citizens as one of the ways to confirm actions on Public Services," the expert explains.
Meanwhile, as Alexander Samsonov notes, many citizens will still not install self-locking for one reason or another. As a result, the potential "audience" of scammers using standard schemes will decrease, but it will still be very large.
How to protect yourself from new scams against the background of self-locking
In the context of a possible change in fraudsters' tactics, the same categories of people are likely to remain in the risk zone — more trusting and less literate in terms of handling modern technologies, Alexander Samsonov believes. There are many cases when elderly people themselves, following the persuasions of intruders, went to the bank, took out loans and transferred them to the accounts of scammers.
— Now scammers can also persuade people to first lift the ban on issuing loans, and then implement the main part of the scheme, — predicts the interlocutor of Izvestia. —
According to Dmitry Dudkov, in the case of citizens who do not have a sufficient level of financial literacy and do not pay attention to fraud protection, a self-locking measure may be more effective if it is installed automatically by default when the user has not abandoned it within a certain period.
To protect yourself from credit fraud, you should not only enable the self-locking function, but also follow certain recommendations. First of all, Dmitry Dudkov advises not to talk on the phone or in messengers with unknown people, no matter who they introduce themselves to: employees of banks, mobile operators, or government services.
— You should not follow the links from SMS and instant messengers, even if they look like messages from banks, government agencies or other organizations, — says the expert. — In addition, do not install applications using links from SMS messages, instant messengers, emails and from suspicious sites. Install apps only from the official app stores.
If you are offered to download or update the bank's application and receive a link, call the hotline indicated on the back of the bank card and clarify whether the offer you received actually comes from the bank. Finally, do not share security codes and transaction confirmations with outsiders, and do not enter this data on unfamiliar, suspicious sites and questionable applications, concludes Dmitry Dudkov.
What is the reason for the introduction of a self-ban on loans in Russia?
The possibility of setting a self-lock on loans was discussed several years ago, Alexander Honin recalls. Such a measure was proposed to be introduced along with a short—term freezing of funds in case of suspected bank transfers without the client's consent - it began to operate in the summer of 2024.
On March 1, 2025, a new rule on self-prohibition of loans entered into force.
The self-ban on lending applies to all types of loans, except mortgage, educational and car loans. A person can independently choose the conditions of the self-lock.
For example, specify the maximum amount for one or more consecutive money transfers, if exceeded, operations will be terminated. It is also possible to restrict access to certain lenders, such as microfinance institutions.
Another option is to ban the method of applying for a loan. You can limit the remote conclusion of a contract, face-to-face signing at a bank branch, or both methods.
As Alexander Khonin notes, you should also not forget about cases when intruders took out microloans using stolen passport data. Accordingly, such self-locks will exclude such a possibility.
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