“A two-day delay in the transfer will allow many to avoid making a fatal mistake”
From July 25, Russian banks are required to suspend money transfers from individuals for two days if they see signs of fraud in them. The corresponding amendment to the law on the national payment system has entered into force. The innovation will only affect transfers to accounts that are included in the Central Bank database of suspicious transactions. According to experts, despite its undeniable relevance, the measure does not provide a person with 100% protection from hunters after his money.
The order of the Bank of Russia also comes into effect, according to which banks must now be guided by six signs of illegal actions, and not three, as before. There are stricter rules. Plus, firstly, banks are obliged to immediately notify the client about the suspension of the operation, secondly, to give recommendations on how to reduce the risks of repeating such a transfer, thirdly, to notify about the possibility of confirming the transfer “no later than one day following the day of suspension «, or perform a repeat transaction using the same details and amount. According to experts interviewed by MK, all this is important for consumers, great, but does not solve the problem of financial fraud globally.
“In my opinion, this measure will really help reduce the number of fraudulent transactions. Not all transfers will be suspended for two days, but only those that seem “suspicious” to the bank. There are strict criteria here. Firstly, we are talking about transfers to accounts that appear in the Bank of Russia database, were carried out without the voluntary consent of the client (recorded as fraudulent actions), or a criminal case was opened against the account owner. Secondly, the client performs an operation that is atypical for himself: by location, device, amount, and so on. In other cases, the restriction will not apply. In a situation where a person transfers money to openly illegal accounts, a “cooling off period” will give him time to come to his senses and not make a fatal mistake. Of course, scammers will come up with new schemes and find accounts that have not yet compromised themselves, but their possibilities are also not unlimited.”
“Since banks are actually responsible for carrying out transfers that have signs of fraud, they may well play it safe and block transactions that are actually quite respectable. It's as if people were detained solely on the basis of their resemblance to scammers. However, the benefit from this innovation is clearly greater than the harm: after all, on one side of the scale is a delay in the transfer, and on the other is a person’s loss of money. In statistics there is the concept of errors of the first and second types. Type I error is a false alarm or false positive. An error of the second type is the omission of an event (in this case, a fraudulent operation). And it’s better to have a hundred false positives than one missed fraudulent transaction. However, you should think about optimizing this tool — for example, changing the “cooling period” depending on the transfer amount.
It is unlikely that this legislative amendment will lead to a radical reduction in the number of fraudulent transactions: attackers are actively adapting to innovations; they will use, for example, phone numbers that are not on the “black lists.”
What could really change the situation is impressive prison terms for fraudsters. «Social engineers» convince the victim to transfer money, usually to a front man. I would like to see high-profile trials of both «social engineers» and these front men. Their absence is surprising. Moreover, it is not difficult to catch fraudsters, as they say, «with bait», because many Russians are sometimes called by them several times a month.»
«The innovation has both its advantages and risks. It is fundamentally important that it is aimed at preventing money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes. This measure will allow banks to more effectively identify fraudulent transactions and protect their clients from losses. By complying with the new rules, they will at least know that the range of opportunities for criminals has narrowed. The main disadvantage is the restriction of freedom of financial transactions: clients risk encountering temporary delays when transferring money, which in some cases can be critical. There is a possibility that the bank will mistakenly consider the transaction suspicious, and the client will be inconvenienced by proving the legality of their actions. Thus, the bank will do a disservice to a person who wants to pay a bill or make a purchase on time.»