The Bank of Russia is drafting a list of clients of banks whose cash withdrawals and transfers will be restricted, Kommersant Daily reports.
The regulator will put on the list droppers, i.e. individuals to whose accounts money stolen by cybercriminals are dropped. Experts warn that innocent citizens may also happen to be on the list while a rehabilitation mechanism is not designed yet.
“To ensure information protection in money transfers, the Bank of Russia will compose and maintain a database of attempted and actual transfers of funds made without a client’s consent. Procedures for the database establishment and operation including information processing and storage, will be set by an internal executive directive of the Bank of Russia”, the regulator’s press service noted.
The said step of the Central Bank is in line with the law on protecting assets of banks’ clients, which envisages for credit institutions a possibility to suspend suspicious transactions. The law is effective since late September.
When banks get the list from the regulator, they will restrict transactions of their respective clients. The experience is, financial institutions usually terminate agreements with such clients. Experts believe that apart from hackers and their accomplices the list may include individuals who provided their accounts for cash withdrawals. Some entities and individuals may also fall victims of war on cybercrime in case they are intentionally exposed by third parties with a purpose of ruining their reputation and blocking their access to banking services.