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- No conclusion has been drawn: it will be more difficult for Russians to withdraw cash from bank cash desks
No conclusion has been drawn: it will be more difficult for Russians to withdraw cash from bank cash desks
Banks offered to give employees of their offices the authority to stop customer cash withdrawal operations at branches and cash desks, Izvestia found out. The initiative was announced at the Ural Forum of Cybersecurity in Finance. Such a cooling-off period should help protect customers who have been exposed to fraud by preventing people from immediately withdrawing funds from their accounts directly at bank branches. Currently, credit institutions cannot legally refuse to hand out money to customers, even with obvious signs of malicious influence. The new protection method will give time for additional verification so that fraud victims or their loved ones have time to react. How this mechanism will work is described in the Izvestia article.
Why do banks want to "cool down" cash withdrawals at branches
In Russia, they want to give bank employees the right to suspend cash withdrawal operations at bank branches and cash desks, Izvestia found out. Credit institutions have proposed introducing a "cooling-off period" similar to ATMs. This will help protect customers who are under the influence of fraudsters.
Representatives of T-Bank and Sberbank announced the need for such a mechanism at the Ural Forum. The idea was supported by the NSPK and law enforcement agencies, as well as by Dom banks.Russia, Zenit and Novik, representatives of these organizations told Izvestia.
Anti-fraud is necessary when issuing cash at the cash desk, said Philip Nemov, head of the Department for Combating the Illegal Use of information and Communication Technologies at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, during the Ural Cybersecurity Forum. The main task is to make sure that the person receiving the money is not under external influence. Izvestia sent a request to the agency.
Oleg Zamiralov, head of the T-Bank Ecosystem Protection Center, noted that the issue of cooling in branches was raised even at the stage of introducing restrictions on ATM operations. "While differences may be noticeable in individual flagship branches, there is actually no significant difference between ATMs and branches nationwide," Zamiralov said at the Ural Forum.
Fraudsters go into cash, Sergei Veligodsky, director of Sberbank's fraud prevention department, explained at the forum. The difference between branches and ATMs is that there are no limits on withdrawals, so potential losses are unlimited.
Anti-fraud should be carried out in all channels, including cash registers, Georgy Dorofeev, a representative of the National Payment Card System (NSPK), agreed at the session. Banks know their customers and will be able to find the right approach to limit withdrawals. The cooling—off period is the most effective tool, which is confirmed by practice.
This mechanism will be useful to combat fraudsters, who are increasingly sending customers to the bank's cash desk, according to the Vice President for Information Security at Dom Bank.Russian Federation" Dmitry Nikishov. The measure may indeed be effective, said Igor Kosoburov, Deputy Chairman of the Zenit board. Using the example of ATMs, the cooling period should be applied to all transactions that seem suspicious to the bank.
At the same time, credit institutions have already begun to solve the problem from their side. According to the internal regulations, employees of the Sber branches are required to talk to the client before withdrawing funds if there is a suspicion that he has been influenced by fraudsters, said Sergey Veligodsky. Ask if representatives of any companies or departments have called. If it turns out that a person is being "led", the bank can invite the police and relatives to open the client's eyes to what is happening. Practice helps to protect against rash steps under pressure from scammers, but the market needs clearer rules for dealing with such situations.
How big is the problem
Banks are recording an increase in the withdrawal of funds by fraudsters through cash registers. And the trend will continue, said Dmitry Nikishov from Dom.RF Bank. The problem is also being fixed at Zenit.
Social engineering is the main tool of cybercriminals today, said Ivan Goryachev, manager of the Servicepipe educational project. Under pressure, people transfer money to "secure accounts", withdraw cash and transfer it to "couriers". As control of digital channels tightens, some of the activity is shifting to bank branches.
The problem of cashing out through cash desks is critical, lawyer Georgy Trelsky also noted. This is the only way for scammers to completely break the digital footprint. In a non-cash environment, a transaction can be tracked and marked as suspicious. Cash, after leaving the cash register, becomes anonymous. The channel is vulnerable due to the personal presence of the client: for a long time, the bank's employees were legally powerless and could not refuse to issue funds to a person, even with atypical behavior.
The main obstacle was the strict regulations of the Civil Code, which obliges a credit institution to issue money on demand, added George Trelsky. Until 2025-2026, any delay could be considered a violation of property rights and lead to lawsuits.
The scale of the problem is large, said Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Finance Global. By the end of 2025, the Central Bank estimated the total damage from fraud at 29.3 billion rubles, the number of transactions without customer consent exceeded 1.5 million. Banks prevented 134.2 million attempts by intruders, and in total "saved" 13.9 trillion rubles. This means that the pressure on security systems is very high, and criminals are looking for new workarounds.
How will the cooling period work?
The cooling period will work by analogy with ATMs, explained Igor Kosoburov from Zenit Bank. If there was suspicious activity using the client's card before withdrawing cash, a 48-hour limit is set on the withdrawal amount, for example, no more than 300 thousand rubles per day.
In this case, the employee or the system marks "high risk" based on the signs: the client came immediately after the call, is in a hurry, asks for a large amount "to a secure account," gets confused in explanations, refuses to call back relatives, explained Vladimir Chernov. Then the rules turn on: verification of identity and intentions, a control call, a notification in a mobile bank, an offer to contact a relative and a pause for several hours or up to a day for a portion of the amount.
The introduction of strict limits is unlikely, said George Trelsky. This can undermine the credibility of the system. However, the bank's right to unilaterally suspend cash disbursement is expected to be consolidated if the risk criteria coincide. In fact, this legalizes the cooling-off period for offline transactions across the country. This approach better balances the security and rights of customers, added Vladimir Chernov.
The interaction of employees with customers will change dramatically — cashiers and branch staff will become a full-fledged "security filter," says Georgy Trelsky. New scripts for conversations with people and methods for rapid assessment of their psychological state will be required. For banks, this means an increased burden on staff.
According to Oleg Zamiralov, the introduction of cooling operations in bank branches is another step towards strengthening customer protection from fraudsters. Even now, when trying to withdraw money, a protective rule is triggered: if the client has a "second-hand" service enabled (in T-Bank this is a free "Protection of loved ones") and a trusted person confirms the operation, the withdrawal restriction is lifted. Thus, the cooling mechanism will work as an additional level of protection with the possibility of safely confirming the operation.
Such a measure will be one of many initiatives in the framework of a large-scale fight against fraud in the Russian Federation. It is also possible today to issue a self-ban on loans, which makes it impossible for intruders to take on debts without the victim's knowledge.
The authorities also want to limit the number of phone numbers for Russians, introduce mandatory labeling of foreign numbers, and ensure data exchange between telecom operators, banks, and government agencies through the state information system (GIS) "Antifraud."
Earlier, the Central Bank reported a decrease in ATM thefts by about 40% since the summer of 2025, so comprehensive anti-fraud measures should effectively solve the problem.
Thanks to this approach, successful cashes by fraudsters are expected to decrease by 25-30% by the end of 2026, said Georgy Trelsky. The cooling-off period will make it as inconvenient and long as possible for criminals to withdraw funds through cash registers.
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