Published on: 2026-08-27
Source: Central Bank of Russia – Central Bank of Russia –
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The Bank of Russia identified 2,900 projects with signs of illegal activity, including financial pyramids, from January to June 2026, which is 31% less than the previous year. Nevertheless, this is comparable to the figures from the previous half-year.
The overall decrease in the number of illegal schemes was primarily due to the reduction in the number of financial pyramids. The Bank of Russia detects and blocks their websites at the launch stage and subsequently monitors and restricts access to duplicate resources. This year, fraudsters more often attracted clients with trendy themes. For example, among the schemes that were suppressed were pseudo-investments in cryptocurrencies, data centers providing mining capacities, as well as purchases of “own” digital assets. Organizers of fraudulent projects usually accept contributions in cryptocurrencies. In the first half of the year alone, more than 1 billion rubles equivalent was raised this way to crypto wallets under their control.
The number of offers from illegal lenders, on the contrary, has doubled—to 1,000. The increase is due to two reasons. Firstly, there is rising demand for an additional source of financing among people with a high debt load. Banks and microfinance organizations impose strict requirements on them. Illegal lenders take advantage of this: they lure over-indebted people with favorable rates and attractive conditions. Secondly, cases of shadow lending, where loans are issued by individuals or individual entrepreneurs secured by real estate, are now included in the Bank of Russia’s statistics.
Read more about combating illegal activities in the financial market in the first half of 2026 in material Bank of Russia.
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Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the information source. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.