Russians are looking for shady money transfer options on the darknet: what threatens them

The disconnection from international financial services and the refusal of foreign banks to work with Russian counterparties, even those not under sanctions, created a demand even among law-abiding companies for dubious, if not simply criminal, methods of transferring funds. Cryptocurrencies, bank cards of “drops” (dummy owners) abroad – these topics are beginning to interest quite legal businesses. Foreign buyers are attracted by the opportunity to avoid the risk of falling under secondary sanctions, because it is very difficult to trace the “Russian trace” through a number of intermediaries in the CIS and other countries. How this scheme works and what threatens the use of the darknet for companies wishing to bypass restrictions – in the material “MK”.

The number of announcements about intermediary services for making payments between legal entities from Russia and “unfriendly” countries has increased on specialized forums and messengers, financial market participants say. If earlier such announcements were of a single nature, now the number is already in the tens and hundreds. Basically, we are talking about semi-legal assistance in payments abroad to small and micro businesses. If a market leader enters the darknet and makes transfers, or if several medium-sized companies that can significantly affect cash flows do so, they will be quickly identified by regulators and the shop will be shut down.

As Gleb Antipov, executive director of DC Engineering, noted, relatively small amounts are transferred under “shadow” schemes, and the state will have to waste a lot of time, effort and money to investigate the sources of origin of which. For example, it is possible to pay in this way for individual – relatively small and inexpensive spare parts for aircraft in this way, without fear of consequences, for quite a long time. But a large-scale replacement of bank transfers with cryptocurrencies to pay all suppliers who were forced to stop working with Russia seems impossible. “When using the mechanism of transferring to the card of international systems in a foreign bank, which is owned by an intermediary, a foreign buyer of a Russian product or service transfers funds that cannot be paid directly to the seller due to sanctions,” Mark Goykhman, TeleTrade Chief Analyst, explains the operation of the scheme. – The purpose of the payment, if it is indicated, does not reflect the real meaning of the operation. The intermediary, having received the money, sends the funds to the seller. As a rule, “drop” cards abroad or cryptocurrencies are used for this. The intermediary keeps a part of the amount as a commission for the payment transfer service.

“Let’s say a client comes to me who needs to pay for some sanctioned product imported from Europe in a parallel way through, say, Uzbekistan,” Sergey Mendeleev, head of InDeFi Smart Bank, gives an example. — He needs to make a payment from an Uzbek company or individual, accept the goods and ship them to the Russian Federation. I contact my partners on the spot, who arrange everything – from payment to delivery – and we agree on a way to transfer the funds received from the client to them. There are a lot of options, the most profitable, taking into account the official dollar exchange rate, was the payment from the card of an individual to himself to a foreign account or, as it were, to a relative in a friendly country. The fact is that in this case the conversion takes place at a rate close to that set by the Central Bank, while buying, for example, a paper dollar will cost 5-10% more. The nuance is that an ordinary entrepreneur, as a rule, does not have acquaintances and relatives in the CIS who are ready to accept significant transfers into their accounts and then withdraw them from ATMs, while intermediaries have, the expert noted.

The reason for the inconvenience of such a scheme for medium and large companies, in addition to attracting the attention of regulators to the movement of large amounts through “gray channels”, is also associated with a solid commission, and simply with possible fraud. As Dmitry Ovchinnikov, chief specialist of the department of integrated information security systems at Gazinformservice, noted, using the darknet it is possible to circumvent sanctions, but it is still impossible to make payments past the supervisory authorities. In addition, there are significant risks of fraud or theft of money. In the event that someone decides to use the darknet, the following scheme is obtained: the client transfers money to the intermediary to buy cryptocurrency or immediately transfers the cryptocurrency to him. The intermediary transfers the cryptocurrency to his partner in another country, where the reverse conversion of the cryptocurrency into real money is already taking place. Theoretically, in this way it is possible to bypass all sanctions for money transfer, however, in practice, the commission for transferring money through the darknet leads to a significant increase in the cost of purchased products. On average, the markup can range from 20% to 50%. Such a scheme may work once, but with its constant use in the country where the money is being withdrawn, the supervisory authorities will quickly see the movement of funds. Further already depends on local legislation. Regulatory penalties may be envisaged: fines, deprivation of licenses, prohibition of activities … At best, they can simply block accounts, and at worst, they will open criminal cases on the fact of illegal circulation of cryptocurrency and impose sanctions on local producers.

“You have to understand that none of the serious companies “from the other side” will work according to such a payment scheme,” Ovchinnikov emphasized. – All sales will be carried out through one-day intermediaries. This scheme is not a panacea for sanctions. After it reaches its peak of popularity, foreign supervisory authorities will take measures to make it difficult to use, which will lead to a significant increase in the commission, and this will ultimately make such a scheme completely unprofitable, the expert noted.

However, many analysts argue that it will be difficult for regulators, tax authorities and law enforcement officers to identify such schemes due to the anonymity of the darknet. And those who import some goods into Russia against the backdrop of large-scale sanctions will be looked at with understanding. “If a Russian enterprise is caught circumventing sanctions through the darknet, then no harsh measures will be taken against it,” said Egor Diashov, CEO of the Dialot investment company. “Such operations are carried out so that the sanctions do not affect those foreign partners who still carry out deliveries to our country.” According to the expert, alternative sources of payments will not be strongly supported or strictly blocked by our authorities. This is due to the fact that now, in general, imports are very much slowing down, although in many areas it is simply necessary. Therefore, such schemes have a future and those players who can create a good reputation will win, the expert emphasized.

All this talk about ways to circumvent sanctions through the darknet has only come about because of the lack of legitimate payment methods. “This once again underlines the importance and need for the speedy establishment of an alternative SWIFT payment infrastructure between countries that do not support anti-Russian sanctions,” said the Executive Director of the Growth Economics Institute. P.A. Stolypin Anton Sviridenko In this regard, it is very important to launch the mechanisms of national digital currencies (primarily the digital ruble) and settlements in them with other countries. And it is also necessary to regulate with greater clarity operations in crypto-currencies specifically for external settlements, the expert emphasized.