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- Drop-stop: sellers of passwords and illegal SIM cards want to be blocked without trial
Drop-stop: sellers of passwords and illegal SIM cards want to be blocked without trial
Illegal sellers of SIM cards and Internet accounts were offered to be blocked without trial. The Interior Ministry came up with such an initiative when preparing a new package of anti-fraud measures. Roskomnadzor believes that the proposal requires additional justification, since the expansion of powers may entail additional costs for the agency. Experts believe that the innovation can complicate the activities of fraudsters and make the Sim market more transparent. According to their estimates, the scale of illegal trade remains significant: at least half a million ads for the sale of such goods have been posted on the Runet.
What information do they want to block
The Interior Ministry has proposed to include in a new package of measures to combat cyberbullying ("Antifraud 3.0") a provision on the extrajudicial blocking of Internet resources illegally distributing information and services used in fraudulent schemes. The relevant proposals are contained in the materials prepared as part of the development of an anti-fraud law, the draft of which has already been sent by the Ministry of Finance for interdepartmental coordination.
It is proposed, without a court decision, to restrict access to websites that advertise the illegal sale of activated SIM cards, Internet accounts, data for access to payment services and authentication tools, as well as to platforms offering digital currency exchange services. In addition, resources engaged in the illegal sale of statutory and registration documents of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, as well as electronic signatures, may be subject to extrajudicial blocking.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs explains the need to introduce such measures by the fact that the dissemination of such information contributes to the commission of crimes. As noted in the materials reviewed by Izvestia, criminal liability has already been provided for this, which, according to the agency, indicates a public danger.
However, Roskomnadzor has questions about the initiative. According to the agency's comments, expanding the list of grounds for extrajudicial blocking will require additional financial and organizational resources. The RCN also considers it necessary to provide additional justification for the proposed changes, an assessment of the estimated amount of resources, as well as evidence of the insufficient effectiveness of existing mechanisms — judicial blocking and access restrictions on the recommendation of the Prosecutor General's Office.
Izvestia sent inquiries to the Interior Ministry and Roskomnadzor.
Currently, the third package of measures to combat cyberbullying is being coordinated with the relevant departments, it is premature to talk about specific details and the final version of the document, the Ministry of Finance clarified to Izvestia. All initiatives are being developed taking into account the balance of security and user rights and are aimed at strengthening the protection of citizens from fraudsters on the Internet, the agency added.
The bill is not limited to the initiative on the extrajudicial blocking of illegal sellers of digital assets. In particular, the introduction of mandatory indication of the sender's personal data in SMS newsletters is being discussed. In addition, it is proposed to limit mass calls that are not aimed at establishing a connection, including the so-called mute auto-calls, which are used to check the activity of phone numbers. Another initiative concerns the owners of Internet resources and mobile applications. They may be required to keep information about user registration and authorization for three years, with the possibility of providing this information to law enforcement agencies upon request.
The relevance of the proposed measures is beyond doubt, says Anna Barabash, CEO of the law firm Enterprise Legal Solutions. According to her, the infrastructure that supports the activities of droppers is still one of the most vulnerable links in the anti-fraud system.
— No matter how much the rules for identifying a subscriber or a bank customer are tightened, the schemes can be circumvented if an attacker is able to purchase a number, card, or access to a personal account that has already been issued to another person. Therefore, the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is aimed at eliminating a gap that was practically not affected by the previous regulation," the lawyer noted.
In her opinion, the extrajudicial blocking by itself will not eliminate the demand for droppers and will not block shadow recruitment channels in closed chats and private groups. However, it can significantly reduce the availability of such offers in the open segment of the Internet — on forums, in comments, on websites and in Telegram channels. According to the expert, a significant part of new participants in fraudulent schemes are involved precisely through ads for "easy earnings" or direct offers to transfer a bank card, SIM card or account to use. According to her, advertising of such services is actually complicity in the preparation of crimes, which justifies the need to promptly remove such offers.
What is the scale of illegal trade
The market of gray SIM cards, accounts and digital signatures has long turned into the foundation on which 90% of remote fraud and cashing of stolen funds rests, said Igor Bederov, founder of the Internet Search company.
— To talk to grandma on the phone, the fraudster needs a fake SIM card, and to withdraw the stolen money, a dropper account and a compromised bank account. All this is a commodity. There are a lot of offers for the sale of activated Sim cards, other people's accounts in social networks and messengers, as well as registration data of legal entities (the so-called denominations) on the Internet. These are hundreds, if not thousands of specialized platforms, shadow forums, and just Telegram channels," he said.
According to him, blocking such ads in the open segment of the Internet — in search engines, social networks and on popular bulletin boards — will significantly complicate the activities of fraudsters. This will increase the cost of entry for new participants in criminal schemes and complicate the logistics of organized groups.
According to Igor Bederov, there are at least 500,000 relevant offers for the sale of such goods and services in the public domain. In addition, an Open Measures study over the past year has identified over 5 million Telegram posts advertising the sale or purchase of accounts on various online platforms.
There are such ads on the Darknet and in private chats, but their share is small in the open segment of the Runet, said Oleg Yablokov, an NTI expert on wireless communications. The main problem is in niche resources, which are difficult to reach without a targeted search. But the scale of the market is obvious: in 2025, there were about 1.2 million dropper accounts in the Central Bank's database, compared to 700 thousand a year earlier, he said. In his opinion, blocking information about the sale of such tools can deprive fraudsters of convenient platforms for finding droppers, withdrawing funds and hiding traces of crimes. However, without identifying the organizers of the schemes and promptly restricting access to resource mirrors, the effect of the measure will be limited.
Anna Barabash also considers it important to define the signs of prohibited information as clearly as possible in the legislation. According to her, it is not enough to limit ourselves to a general ban on offers to transfer Sim cards or bank cards — it is necessary to fix specific criteria, for example, specifying remuneration for the use of other people's personal data or offers to issue a number or card to yourself with subsequent transfer to third parties.
The effectiveness of the new measure will directly depend on its interaction with existing restrictions: it is important to synchronize the blocking of illegal advertising with the rules on the limit on the number of bank cards per person and the transfer of data by credit institutions to a single payment card accounting system, she said. Without comprehensive monitoring, the proposed initiative can only have a limited effect: deleted offers will quickly appear on new sites or in other channels.
Until recently, ads for "anonymous activated SIM cards" were found even on large marketplaces, said Leonid Konik, a partner at ComNews Research. Now such a business has mostly gone into the shadows, however, such offers, according to him, can still be found on bulletin boards and specialized resources. As the expert noted, sellers of such services do not have direct access to a wide audience of customers, so they have to use the Internet to find customers. In this regard, pre-trial blocking of pages with such ads can become an effective tool to combat the illegal market.
For the successful implementation of the measure, it is necessary to establish clear criteria for the illegality of proposals, create an operational mechanism for interaction between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Roskomnadzor, as well as determine the procedure for cooperation with platform owners, Oleg Yablokov believes. At the same time, according to him, it is important to maintain a balance and avoid excessive restrictions for legal business.
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