The Central Bank of Russia detected 2,900 projects showing signs of illegal financial activity in the first half of 2026, including Ponzi schemes. The total fell 31% year over year, largely because of fewer Ponzi schemes, but was broadly unchanged from the second half of 2025. Fraudulent projects increasingly promoted purported investments in cryptocurrencies, mining data centers and proprietary digital assets. Their organizers received more than RUB 1 billion in cryptocurrency during the period. The central bank detects and blocks these projects’ websites and restricts access to duplicate sites. Loan shark offers doubled to 1,000, reflecting stronger demand from overindebted borrowers who cannot meet regulated lenders’ requirements. The increase also partly resulted from expanded statistics that now include property-secured shadow lending by individuals and individual entrepreneurs.
2026-08-27Central Bank of Russia
Central Bank of Russia detects 2,900 suspected illegal financial projects as loan shark offers double
The Central Bank of Russia detected 2,900 suspected illegal financial projects in the first half of 2026, down 31% year over year, while cryptocurrency-based schemes received more than RUB 1 billion. Loan shark offers doubled to 1,000 because of increased demand from overindebted borrowers and broader statistical coverage.