Since the beginning of 2026, Russian banks have temporarily blocked from 2 to 3 million accounts and bank cards of individuals — 6–9 times more than the average monthly figure for 2025 (about 330 thousand blockings). The reason was the order of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which came into force on January 1, doubling the list of signs of suspicious transactions under Law No. 161-FZ — from 6 to 12 criteria.
The new rules have affected even ordinary transactions: users report blockages when repeatedly replenishing the balance on marketplaces or frequent purchases from one seller. Experts note that anti-fraud systems work with high sensitivity in order not to miss fraudulent schemes, but this leads to a large number of false positives.
Many banks do not explain the reasons for the blockages, referring to the requirements of the regulator, and redirect requests to the Central Bank. In turn, the Bank of Russia stated that it continues to analyze the effectiveness of measures and make adjustments — in particular, the regulatory authority recently simplified the procedure for rehabilitating cryptocurrency sellers erroneously included in the database of fraudulent transactions.