The State Duma adopted a draft law on combating telephone and Internet fraud in the first reading.

The State Duma of Russia has approved in the first reading a bill to protect Russians from telephone and Internet scams. In particular, the document proposes to strengthen call monitoring and data exchange between agencies, as well as create an anti-fraud platform. This was announced on March 18 on the website of the lower house of parliament.

The document provides for the possibility of operational data exchange between government agencies, banks and digital platforms. It is noted that monitoring suspicious transactions will make it possible to detect fraudulent schemes almost instantly, block them, and then transfer them to law enforcement agencies.

The bill proposes the creation of an anti-fraud platform with a base of votes of fraudsters who use the trust of citizens for selfish purposes. In addition, the bill provides for a ban on the use of messengers by employees of government agencies, banks and other organizations for business communication with citizens.

The document also provides for mandatory labeling of calls on phones when making calls from organizations and prohibits transferring SIM cards to third parties.

Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, in turn, said that consideration of this bill in the second reading, which may take place on March 26, should take place as a matter of priority.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on February 13 that the Russian government was introducing mandatory call identification as part of legislative amendments to protect citizens from telephone and Internet scams. The Prime Minister noted that a comprehensive package of measures has been prepared, the implementation of which is planned for the near future.