In Ukraine, banks are preparing to tighten the rules of transfers and control even small amounts. The National Bank has already sent out the relevant instructions, but at the same time they are preparing a more global restriction: introducing limits on the number of transfers and the maximum amount per month.
The culprits of such changes are the “mules”, that is, those who sell their cards (but in fact rent them to scammers). There are tens of thousands of such “mules”, and hundreds of millions of hryvnia pass through their accounts in small amounts. These are funds from scammers, those who do not pay taxes, illegal businesses, etc., writes Alexander Litvin
“We’ll deliver the card quickly, maybe in a package to Novaya Pochta,” the drop card seller, who did not give his name, tells the publication. Advertisements for this and thousands of other sellers can be found on social networks and on specialized websites.
They have specific instructions on how to communicate with potential card buyers. First they ask what purpose the card will be used for. If the buyer says that only for legal purposes (of course, why else would you buy a card in someone else’s name), he is provided with payment details and the goods are sent (card, identification code, SIM card that was used to issue the invoice).
If for some reason the buyer admits that he is buying for illegal activities, he is immediately refused. In fact, sellers of other people's cards are well aware that their clients are fraudsters and those who launder funds. This is a kind of “performance” for law enforcement officers. Because if there is no criminal intent, then participation in fraudulent activities will be more difficult to prove.
“Everyone says they buy to create advertising accounts, pay for legitimate advertising, but in reality, who can track? They definitely don’t buy it for a microloan, because the cost of the card is more than a microloan. The cards are debit, not credit,” says Dnieper resident Marina. She worked for two weeks in the support service of one of the stores selling drop cards.
“What I really didn’t like the most was that you only had to answer in Russian. They paid me $100 a week guaranteed and bonuses if I sold well. I left because I had a new boyfriend, he persuaded me to quit this job,” says the girl.
For a PrivatBank card they ask for 4,400 UAH if you buy one. And if you buy one hundred, the amount can drop to 1,500 UAH. At the same time, those who sell their cards are paid only 1 thousand UAH per month. Interestingly, the card is not on sale forever. They give it for one month and then block it.
Over the past few weeks, the National Bank has been actively discussing the possibility of stopping the sale of cards. Each bank states in its terms and conditions that the client is obliged to comply with the rules for using banks. Among them: it is prohibited to transfer your card to third parties.
“In total, we are talking about tens of thousands of accounts (which have the characteristic of drop accounts, that is, those that are used for laundering or legalizing funds by transferring from card to card. - Ed.). For example, one of the largest issuing banks discovered more than 12 thousand accounts of “drop” clients (representatives of socially vulnerable segments of the population, pensioners, students with a low or average level of expected receipts into their accounts. - Ed.) for the period only from October 2023- from April 2024,” reads the NBU’s explanation.
In addition, the terms of cooperation with the bank indicate how the client will use the card. You cannot issue a salary card and use it for regular transfers of funds, top up at terminals, etc. But if these are small amounts, some banks let such “droppers” through. And this allows you to launder millions of hryvnias.
While recommendations have been introduced, the next step is restrictions for everyone
“Banks should demand explanations from individuals about what kind of small amounts are running around on cards via P2P. Stop payments and refuse service. Check your financial condition and prevent transfers,” financial expert Vasily Nevmerzhitsky wrote on his Facebook page.
In a comment to the publication, he explained that the restrictions that the National Bank plans to introduce will not become a problem for most clients. Let us remind you that now only some banks have introduced restrictions on the maximum number of transfers from card to card per month and the maximum amount. The NBU considered that 98.44% of clients make up to 30 transfers per month in the amount of up to 100 thousand UAH. It was proposed to introduce a limit in this amount.
An employee of one of the banks, who does not have the right to give official comments from a government agency, noted: a few days ago the NBU sent out a letter with recommendations for monitoring small transfers. However, the bank has engaged in detailed analysis before.
“There is a risk-oriented approach. First, the program analyzes everything, then, if there are any matches, a suspicious operation, it can be suspended and an additional check occurs. I don’t want to criticize my colleagues, but it is the banks themselves who create a situation where their monitoring system allows drops to pass through. I am sure that this is impossible in our bank,” says the publication’s interlocutor.
True, the drop card store also sells cards from the financial institution whose representative provided the anonymous comment.
Former member of the NBU Council Vitaly Shapran, who now often publicly criticizes the steps of the National Bank’s board, is confident that this restriction will lead to an increase in cash demand, as well as cryptocurrency and foreign currency in accounts in offshore banks.
“In addition to drops, tax evaders have a good hundred methods of cashing out non-cash payments through banks. If the drops channel is closed, the load on other channels will increase. In the end, there are options when the cash does not reach the bank at all, but ends up with the beneficiary even before collection, but this is already the “high art of evasion.”
In the version announced by the NBU, the limit of 100 thousand UAH and 30 transfers per month has a significant hidden drawback. With low-quality financial monitoring, these limits will not lead to the elimination of drops as a phenomenon; they will simply lead to an increase in demand for card banking services from the population. If you had one card, well, open 10-15 in other banks and you will get a transaction limit of up to UAH 1.5 million,” said Shapran.
In fact, there are other ways to deal with “mules”. Now they help create an infrastructure for scammers, but do not bear any responsibility for it. Anyone who sells their card after being contacted by law enforcement can simply say that they lost it.
The law does not oblige Ukrainians to keep track of their cards. There is talk among finance staff about creating a separate “mule” registry (similar to the credit registry). Then banks would add their clients who were already caught selling an account to this register. Other banks would check everyone who tries to open an account against this register and turn away those they consider to be “mules.” True, if with non-payment of a loan everything is simple: you didn’t pay, you became a debtor and ended up in the register, then with “mules” the situation can be more complicated. Perhaps among the thousands of real “mules” there are indeed those who handed over their card and its data because they were misled by scammers.
