The State Duma adopted in the first reading a law on a “cooling period” for those planning to take out a loan –

A new mechanism for protecting citizens from financial fraudsters will soon begin to operate in Russia. The draft law on this was adopted by the State Duma in the first reading on Wednesday, January 15. The tool is designed to help in cases where a person is forced to apply for a loan and transfer money to the account of criminals.

“It is no coincidence that this issue is considered a priority. Over the past year, according to the Bank of Russia, about 50% of borrowed funds issued to defrauded citizens were immediately transferred to criminals after receiving them. The amount of thefts increased 2.6 times. It is important to protect people from the actions of scammers, to protect them from financial losses,” State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin wrote in his Telegram channel.

As part of the initiative, it is proposed to establish a so-called cooling period when issuing borrowed funds: if a loan is issued in the amount of 50 thousand to 200 thousand rubles, a person will be able to access this money no earlier than four hours later. If the loan size exceeds 200 thousand rubles, the restriction will be in effect for 48 hours.

“During this time, people will be able to assess the need to take out a loan and their solvency. If the decision to contact the bank was made under pressure from scammers, then during the “cooling off period” citizens will have the opportunity to refuse to receive borrowed funds,” Volodin explained.

In turn, credit and microfinance organizations will be required to additionally check transactions for fraud, the parliamentarian added. According to him, it is planned to complete consideration of the bill by the end of January.

Let us recall that in July 2024, a law came into force in Russia, thanks to which Russians had the opportunity to return money transferred to criminals. Now banks are required to fully compensate clients for damage if funds were sent to a fraudulent account entered into a special Central Bank database. The stolen amount must be returned to the victim within 30 calendar days after receiving his application.

As part of this initiative, there is also a “cooling off period”: for two days, the bank will not transfer money to a suspicious account and will warn the client about the dubious transaction. It is assumed that during this time a person under the influence of attackers will be able to come to his senses and not confirm the transfer.

Moreover, from March 1, 2025, a law on a self-ban on loans for citizens should come into force in Russia. According to the innovations, every resident of the country will have the opportunity to submit an application and set a limit on the issuance of loans by banks and microfinance organizations. This can be done both electronically – through the government services portal, and in person at the MFC.

The application itself will be sent to the authorized credit history bureaus, after which information about the decision made will appear in your personal account on government services or will be provided through the MFC. Using the same methods, a person can remove self-prohibition. A citizen will have the right to use this service an unlimited number of times.

Banks and microfinance organizations will begin to check whether a person’s credit history contains information about self-ban. If such a restriction is established, the organization will have to refuse to issue a loan. If, despite the current prohibition, the lender nevertheless concludes an agreement, he will no longer be able to demand that the borrower fulfill his obligations under the loan.

“You need to turn on your inner Stirlitz”

As Pyotr Gusyatnikov, senior managing partner of the law firm PG Partners, told RT, in most cases, attackers deceive citizens using so-called social engineering methods: a person gets a call allegedly from a bank or some department and is informed that his money is under threat, after which he is convinced transfer them to a “safe” account. A similar scheme works in the case of loans: scammers call and inform the citizen that someone is trying to take out a loan on his behalf and in order to catch the criminals, you need to confirm this operation, and the money will then be returned.

“The wording may differ, but the essence is the same – they are trying to force a person to transfer their own or borrowed funds to the accounts of scammers. Despite the fact that the scheme has long been known and is widely discussed in the media, it still works because it plays on the feeling of fear of a person who is in a stressful state at that moment. Even if he knows about this trick, not everyone can cope with anxiety. Often people realize that they have become a victim of deception immediately after the incident, within one or two hours,” Gusyatnikov noted.

According to the founder of the Kredcheck service, Elman Mehdiyev, as a rule, criminals try to create in a person a feeling of urgency and importance in carrying out the imposed actions. Against this background, the introduction of a cooling period when issuing loans should help bank clients reduce the damage.

“Scenarios of deception can be completely different: a call from government agencies, from a manager, or from a relative in trouble. The main defense is precisely a calm analysis of what is proposed to be done. As one advertisement says, “you need to turn on your inner Stirlitz” and never tell anyone any codes from SMS or push notifications under any pretext,” added the RT interlocutor.

Pyotr Gusyatnikov notes that it is better not to enter into dialogue with scammers at all: if you receive such a call, you must immediately hang up and call your bank back at the phone number listed on the official website of the credit institution.

“The main thing is not to call back the number from which you received a questionable call. You cannot have a dialogue with scammers, even if you think you know everything and want to expose them. This is dangerous, because during the conversation a person’s opinion may change, and he himself will not notice how he transfers money to criminals. If possible, it is better not to pick up the phone from unfamiliar numbers at all,” concluded Gusyatnikov.