number of fraudulent transactions increased in the second quarter, but the amount of stolen funds decreased

In the second quarter, according to the Central Bank, the number of fraudulent transactions with customer accounts increased markedly, but the amount of stolen funds decreased by more than 20%. At the same time, along with the growth of theft through the SBP, the return of funds has significantly fallen. Experts believe that the increase in the number of thefts is associated with a change in tactics by scammers who switch to a more mass segment. The decrease in the return of funds stolen through the SBP is explained by the fact that banks simply “slept through” the attack on this element of the payment infrastructure.

According to the statistics of the Central Bank, in April-June in the Russian banking system, the number of operations without the consent of the client (OBS) increased almost to a record level. It amounted to 280 thousand, there were more only in the fourth quarter of 2021 – 304 thousand units. The volume of stolen funds compared with the first quarter of 2023 decreased by almost 1 billion rubles, to 3.6 billion rubles, against 4.5 billion rubles. in the previous reporting period.

The dynamics is explained by a sharp decrease in theft through remote banking services (RBS), which traditionally provided the largest contribution to the total volume of losses.

In the second quarter, they accounted for less than 13 thousand pieces in terms of the number of thefts, and a little more than 1 billion rubles in terms of volume. This is less than in the previous quarter, almost three times in terms of the number of transactions and 2.5 times in terms of volume.

As a result, the first place in terms of theft came cards, which now account for about 90% of theft in terms of the number of OBS, and the amount of stolen funds for the quarter increased by more than 300 million rubles, to 1.7 billion rubles. There has also been an increase in theft fast payment system (SBP) – by two thirds in terms of quantity (up to 20 thousand units) and by almost 40% in terms of volume, almost up to 770 million rubles. The return of funds stolen through the SBP fell from 11.6% to 1.7%.

Experts attribute the growth in the number of fraudulent transactions to a general increase in payments and a change in tactics. According to the director of the technical department of RTM Group Fedor Muzalevsky, the increase in the number of operations in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the first quarter of 2022 was almost threefold. “There is no data yet on the ratio of the first and second quarters of 2023, but an increase can also be expected there, and an increase in the number of legitimate transactions entails an increase in fraudulent ones,” he specified.

The head of the board of the Financial Innovations Association (AFI) Roman Prokhorov notes that the decrease in the total amount of illegal transactions with an increase in their number indicates the active use of the “carpet bombing” tactics by attackers, when “working” with one profitable client with high (according to preliminary data) With the rest of the funds, they prefer to process a few random victims. Maxim Mitusov, an independent expert in the payment market, agrees with him, who draws attention to the fact that modern fraud is a technological business aimed at scaling and efficiency.

The decrease in the volume of theft through RBS, according to Fedor Muzalevsky, can be attributed to the merits of the Central Bank, including by fixing the requirements for the use of anti-fraud systems by banks and due to the requirement for compliance of RBS with the estimated level of trust (EL4). However, according to Roman Prokhorov, the decrease in theft through RBS is due to the fact that illegal transactions using social engineering were classified in the reporting, taking into account the technology of their commission, as transactions with cards and through the SBP.

Experts explain the decrease in the return of stolen funds through the SBP by the reaction of banks to the constant growth in the volume of transactions through the system.

According to Roman Prokhorov, a sharp decrease in the share of funds returned in case of theft through the SBP may be due to a change in the approach of credit institutions, which previously tried to “more sensitively and client-oriented” approach to the consideration of claims, including those related to illegal transactions.

Maxim Mitusov adds that when the scammers shifted part of their attention to the SBP, the banks “did not react very quickly”, missed the attack, but “in the next two or three quarters they will improve this direction.”

Maxim Builov, Yulia Poslavskaya