SIM cards can be legally equated to means of payment to combat fraudsters

To combat fraudsters, SIM cards in the Russian Federation can be legally equated to means of payment. Such an initiative is being prepared for submission to the State Duma by the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy under the Federation Council. Other proposals include tightening the administrative liability of operators for poor quality verification of subscriber information. Market participants fear increased pressure on business and call existing measures to combat telephone fraud sufficient.

Deputy Chairman of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy under the Federation Council Artem Sheikin told Kommersant that he plans to introduce a number of initiatives to the State Duma as part of the spring session. In particular, to combat telephone fraud, it will be proposed to equate SIM cards to means of payment.

The senator proposes to qualify the actions of persons associated with the circulation of illegal SIM cards under Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – “Illegal circulation of payment instruments.”

Another measure, according to him, could be increased administrative liability for telecom operators for failure to comply with the procedure for verifying the accuracy of subscriber information, up to and including termination of the legal entity’s activities.

“When committing fraud, funds are accepted from the victims to the subscriber numbers of mobile operators, and then the attackers transfer the money to bank accounts, digital or crypto wallets. When identifying data about the owners of the numbers, it turns out that these persons and their places of registration do not exist,” the senator explained to Kommersant. In his opinion, this is due to operators violating the law when selling SIM cards.

MegaFon and MTS do not comment on the proposals. VimpelCom believes that in working together to solve the problem of gray SIM cards, “it is more important to focus on assistance in implementing technologies for convenient and reliable customer verification.” Tele2 notes that existing legislation already makes it possible to hold violators accountable: “Transfers of funds using a subscriber number are subject to anti-money laundering requirements. Operators are actively involved in preventing illegal or suspicious financial transactions.”

They emphasize that “no financial transactions are made” using the SIM card.

“You cannot equate a SIM card to a means of payment – it is a physical module that is used to identify a subscriber, and not a bank card. “Antifrod” already exists, the purpose of such a tough initiative is not very clear,” agrees the head of the Association of Small Telecom Operators Dmitry Galushko. If the proposals are accepted, administrative pressure on operators will increase, he is sure.

Lawyers also consider the initiative controversial. “It is difficult to agree with the idea of ​​equating SIM cards to means of payment. The main function of a SIM card is to authenticate the subscriber on the network; it is enough to tighten the responsibility for turnover,” says Intellect Alliance lawyer Eleonora Gafurova. She believes that tougher penalties for missing calls from scammers are excessive, since operators are already connected to the Antifraud system. At the same time, Artem Yablokov, partner of the Yablokov Brothers law firm, believes that in order to organize “proper control” over the turnover of SIM cards, it is not enough to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure or the Code of Administrative Offenses: “Even if we introduce increased control over operators and strengthen sanctions, we are more likely to get nominal SIM card owners who are hired by criminals.”

Alexey Zhabin, Tatyana Isakova, Anna Zanina, Yuri Litvinenko