Mutual consent: almost half of Russians are unaware of the self-ban on loans
The majority of Russian residents are not aware of the possibilities of self-defense against fraudulent actions, according to a study by the Popular Front. Almost half of the citizens do not know about self-locks on loans and loans, and if they have heard about them, they do not understand how to install them. Approximately 40% of compatriots do not suspect that it is possible to ban mass spam calls. About why the awareness of the population suffers and how self—defense measures are in demand, see the Izvestia article.
What protection methods do Russians use?
Only about a third of Russians have self-imposed restrictions on loans and borrowings, while about half of the country's residents are unaware of this opportunity or do not understand how to use it. Such data was shown by a study by the Popular Front and the <url> service, which was reviewed by Izvestia.
The law allowing for the establishment of self-locks entered into force on March 1, 2025. According to the United Credit Bureau (OKB), during the year of the service's operation — from March 1, 2025 to February 28, 2026 — Russians sent 22.1 million applications for the installation of various types of self-locks on loans and 1.9 million applications for their withdrawal.
"To date, 18.8 million Russians have self—imposed status," they told Izvestia.
The concept of a "second hand", when a person appoints a trusted person to control suspicious transactions, is familiar only to a part of Russians. 35% have not heard about it, 19% do not know how to connect it, 15% do not see the need, 13-14% either installed it for themselves or for their relatives, or act as proxies themselves.
But the ban on mass spam calls turned out to be popular.: 46% have connected it. But 28% do not know how to do this, and 17% have not even heard of such an opportunity.
The highest indicator in terms of the number of citizens who have self—barred loans among Russian regions is in the Murmansk Region, the Design Bureau said. For every 100 residents of the region, there are 23 people who have used this measure. The Magadan Region, Komi, Kamchatka Krai, and Karelia are also among the leading regions. But in Moscow, only 13% of residents installed self—locking, in the Moscow region - 14%, in St. Petersburg — 15%, in the Leningrad region — 12%.
Alla Khrapunova, Deputy head of the Popular Front for Borrowers' Rights project, curator of the Moshelovka platform, noted that no tool by its very existence can ensure security while maintaining the same level of comfort and financial accessibility.
"Our practice of dealing with citizens' complaints and communicating with users shows that many have either not heard or do not know how to use existing security solutions," she complained.
Izvestia sent a request to the Central Bank with a request to comment on the situation.
Why don't they put a self-lock?
The fact that a fairly large proportion of people admit to lack of awareness in this area, there is a potential growth area for awareness campaigns by the regulator and the financial structures themselves, believes the CEO of "I will choose.<url>" by Grigory Burdenko.
"As procedures become simpler, we can expect a further increase in the penetration of protective mechanisms into the daily lives of Russians," he said.
Self—locking is an effective way to protect against the vast majority of credit fraud schemes, says Nikolai Filippov, Director of Risk Management Methodology and Data Analytics at OKB.
"More and more citizens are using it as a flexible mechanism: they keep the self—locking status active to reduce risks and withdraw it immediately before applying for a loan," he said.
The existing measures are an important component in the fight against remote loan processing by fraudsters, the managing partner of the Pen Bar Association confirmed. & Paper by Alexey Dobrynin.
— A special advantage of the measures is that even if the victim "succumbed" to the offer of a fraudster to apply for a loan, providing someone with his data for this, this operation will in any case be rejected by the credit institution, regardless of the will and desire of the potential borrower, — said the expert.
One of the reasons for the low awareness of Russians is that the self—locking mechanism is a relatively new tool: the law has been in effect since March 2025, and information about it is distributed mainly through digital services, says Anton Pulyaev, a lawyer and managing partner at Advolaw.
"Some citizens perceive self—locking as a complicated procedure, although it can be issued in a few minutes through Public Services or the MFC, and if necessary, it can also be quickly removed," he noted.
What is the danger of the lack of self-locking
The issue of financial literacy for Russia is a fairly recent trend, said Daniil Chernykh-Aipov, member of the Council of the Moscow Regional Branch of the Russian Bar Association, Deputy Chairman of the Sulim and Partners Bar Association.
— This topic has been relevant for the last five years, especially against the background of fraudulent activities, and people have become more savvy. Meanwhile, there will always be someone who does not fully understand the issue, does not fully understand something and draws the right conclusions," the lawyer believes.
In his opinion, until people have personally encountered scammers, they cannot understand the meaning of such a threat and understand that self—defense measures are only their personal responsibility. In addition, he believes, self-locks and other protective measures are relevant only for the economically active population.
— If you do fall into the hands of scammers, you can challenge the loan, but it is extremely difficult, — said the expert. — The main legal instrument here will be Article 179 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which allows recognizing the transaction as invalid as committed under the influence of deception.
In the vast majority of cases, the bank is not a party to the fraudulent scheme: it has faithfully issued a loan to a person who personally, albeit under psychological pressure, signed the contract, confirmed his identity and agreed to the disbursement of funds. From the bank's point of view, the deal looks flawless, and the courts take this into account.
— This is a big disadvantage, which will be the main problem, — said Daniil Chernykh-Aipov. — In addition, the burden of the borrower will be the need to prove the fact that he was deceived. It is also extremely difficult to do this without opening a criminal case and at least partially identifying the fraudsters.
The lawyer also recalled the law (369-FZ) adopted in 2023, according to which, if a bank has transferred money to a fraudulent account, it is obliged to return it to the client within 30 days. However, this rule applies to transfers, not loan agreements. It helps to return the money that went to the scammers, but it does not cancel the debt to the bank automatically.
Mass penetration of new measures into society, such as self-restrictions, takes three to five years, said Igor Rastorguev, a leading analyst at AMarkets.
"The first year is about active users," he said. — The next two or three years are the ones that need to be called. A lot depends on how systematically the government and banks will remind you about the opportunity at every opportunity: when opening an account, when calling support, when receiving a notification.
Elman Mehdiyev, CEO of the Association for the Development of Financial Literacy, added that in the modern information and digital environment, the "service is good, it means it will work" approach is no longer valid.
"If we want to improve the effectiveness of existing tools, then the key step is not just informing users about their availability, but consistently revealing their advantages, capabilities and potential in each communication," he said.
To protect people from fraudsters, it is not enough to simply introduce new laws, says Alla Khrapunova. It is also important to tell citizens how everything works. It should be explained in detail how the client's path works, what advantages a particular service provides, and what risks may arise when using it.
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