In 2025, the number of remote thefts and frauds decreased in Russia, partly due to the suppression of illegal sales of SIM cards. This was announced at an expanded meeting of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs with the participation of President Vladimir Putin.
The head of the department, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, stated that last year, more than 1.8 thousand SIM banks (devices for managing a large number of telephone numbers) and over 3 million SIM cards from various operators were removed from shadow circulation.
More than 165 thousand subscriber numbers linked to them have been blocked with telecom operators.
According to him, law enforcement officers blocked about 1.5 thousand foreign IP addresses through which attackers tried to steal money from Russians.
The Federal Law "On Communications" obliges operators to sell and register SIM cards to clients only after they present their passport. Criminals circumvent this requirement by registering SIM cards to straw persons. They are most often used for dropping (cashing out money) and maintaining anonymity during illegal financial transactions.
