Hunting for a sign: payments for children and their members risk being blocked
Banks will strengthen control over transactions with social payments that show signs of being cashed out. We are talking about maternity capital, child allowances, as well as payments to SVO fighters and their families, Izvestia found out. The Central Bank will require more careful monitoring of such operations — this follows from the updated draft regulation of the regulator (Izvestia has it). If the financial organization recognizes the transfer as suspicious, in the future, questionable transactions of this client may be blocked and additionally checked. Moreover, even payments at retail outlets without terminals, as well as payment for tutoring services, may be considered risky. Whether bona fide clients will suffer is in the Izvestia article.
Social support funds may be blocked more often
The Central Bank has included transactions with social payments with signs of cashing out in the list of criteria for suspicious transactions that may be involved in laundering criminal proceeds. This follows from the updated regulation of the Bank of Russia 375-P (Izvestia has it), which regulates this area. Credit institutions will also be more active in monitoring other transfers of budget funds (for example, grants or state transfers).
Maternity capital and housing certificates are suitable for the category of social support, said Marina Burdonova, head of the compliance department at Sovcombank. We are also talking about payments to participants of the special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine and their families, child allowances and child transfers, added Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Finance Global.
Maternity capital is payments to families for the birth of children. His amount at the birth of the first child is 676 thousand rubles, the second — 893 thousand rubles. This money can be spent on improving housing conditions, educating children, social adaptation of children with disabilities, or on the formation of the funded part of the mother's pension. State housing certificates are subsidies for the purchase of apartments for beneficiaries (for example, residents of the Far North, police officers and the Ministry of Emergency Situations) and citizens in need of better housing conditions.
— The point of the Central Bank's requirements is to draw the attention of banks to a certain type of operation. Previously, they were monitored only by individual players, but now they will be under the control of all credit institutions," said Alexander Naumov, Deputy head of the National Financial Market Council (NSFM).
Banks are required to document unusual transactions, the criteria for which are specified in regulation 375-P, said Alexander Naumov. For each of them, the credit institution analyzes the client's profile, the main counterparties, the reasons for the transactions, and other parameters. After the analysis, the bank makes a subjective decision on the existence of suspicions of money laundering. If there are any, the organization is obliged to report the operation to Rosfinmonitoring.
— At this stage, the client's operations that have already been performed are analyzed, so they will not be suspended. But this is possible in the future if the bank recognizes the client's activity as suspicious," explained Alexander Naumov.
Credit organizations also have the right to independently establish criteria for unusual transactions in addition to those recommended by the Bank of Russia, Alexander Naumov said.
The press service of Sber clarified that banks are already identifying schemes using social payments. Representatives of Sovcombank are also particularly closely monitoring operations involving the use of budgetary funds. Izvestia sent inquiries to other market participants, as well as to the Central Bank and Rosfinmonitoring.
Consequences for benefit recipients
The appearance of new signs of suspicious transactions will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of checks of such transactions, said Vladimir Chernov from Freedom Finance Global. The probability of suspending payments and requesting additional documents for their implementation will also increase.
The analysis of transactions with signs of multiple redirection of funds, transfer of large amounts between individuals, as well as small but regular transfers between them will become more rigorous, Vladimir Chernov specified. This is due to the fact that attackers are increasingly using legal social payments as a cover for withdrawing illegal funds.
Payments to individuals associated with shady activities will be particularly suspicious. We are talking about games in illegal online casinos and bookmakers, the purchase of drugs and other illegal goods and services.
"In addition, P2P transfers for the purchase of cryptocurrencies will be at risk," the expert explained.
The entire chain of transfers will be monitored, because fraudsters hide the sources behind long sequences of transfers, warned Oleg Abelev, head of the analytical department of the Rikom-Trust investment company. If the funds received from social security payments are transferred to the account of an intermediary who commits suspicious acts with them, banks may have questions for all participants in the scheme, even if this happened unintentionally.
— The consequences are very simple — subsequent suspicious transfers can be delayed until their legality is confirmed with the help of additional documents, — Oleg Abelev explained.
Already, about 30-40% of users have experienced temporary suspension of operations or requests for documents from the bank, said Vladimir Chernov. The increase in the number of inspections began to be felt especially clearly after the spring of 2024. Even mundane transactions, such as paying for tutoring services or selling personal items on online platforms, may arouse the suspicion of banks if they occur regularly.
— To minimize the risk of additional checks, it is worth using the same bank and account for receiving and spending funds and avoiding frequent small transfers between individuals, — Oleg Abelev recommends.
However, with a logical explanation and the provision of the necessary documents, operations can be unblocked without problems, Vladimir Chernov said. A complete account freeze is only possible if there is a clear violation of the law or if there are persistent signs of money laundering.
Why do they pay special attention to social benefits?
— The Bank of Russia has noted several times that in recent years the number of transactions related to the misuse of budgetary funds has increased. Criteria for unusual transactions are needed to give banks a basis for recording such transactions and their subsequent analysis," said Alexander Naumov from NSFR.
There are many schemes for cashing out the mother capital, for example, through the purchase of a car or investment in educational programs, he said. There are also social benefits to support the participants of the SVO, their families and people who find themselves in a difficult life situation. If transactions with these funds fall under the criteria of the Central Bank, banks will be required to verify them.
The regulator's innovations are most likely related to the fact that fraudsters have become more likely to steal money transferred as support for military personnel and their families, said Elena Siraeva, head of the financial monitoring and compliance department at Zenit Bank. The movement of their funds will be monitored to prevent such cases.
What other operations will the Central Bank require to strengthen control over
— The innovations may also affect legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, — said Alexander Naumov.
There are many schemes for cashing out state funds that medical and educational organizations receive to support certain categories of employees, said Alexander Safonov, professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. As a result of such frauds, money usually does not fall into the hands of employees, but into the hands of the administration.
Similar practices are used in the execution of government orders, said Alexander Safonov. Many corruption schemes involve cashing out and using targeted funds for other purposes — for this they can be withdrawn through shell companies.
Organizations also resell goods purchased with grants or tender funds, as well as make purchases from subsidiaries and contractual suppliers. In this case, government funds simply flow to third-party companies and are easily withdrawn.
Systematic strengthening of control over operations with budget money will help reduce the volume of corruption schemes, concluded Vladimir Chernov. In the future, this will increase the effectiveness of government support programs, especially in the social sphere. Nevertheless, even conscientious recipients of benefits may face additional bureaucracy, which they should prepare for now.
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