Russia to Launch Unified Payment Card Registry in 2026 to Combat Dropper Fraud Schemes
From September 1, 2026, Russia will activate a unified national registry that records every payment card issued by Russian banks, irrespective of the underlying payment system.
The new database will capture all cards, including previously issued Visa and Mastercard products and even expired cards that banks continue to maintain. This comprehensive approach prevents individuals from concealing card holdings behind foreign payment-system logos.
The primary objective is to strengthen the fight against dropper schemes, in which criminals use multiple third-party cards and accounts to move and cash out stolen funds. Under the current fragmented system, each bank only sees the cards it has issued itself.
With the single registry, banks will gain a complete view of how many cards are linked to any one person across all institutions. This visibility is expected to make it significantly harder for fraud networks to operate large numbers of mule accounts undetected.
No mass cancellation of cards will take place on the launch date. The restriction limiting any individual to a maximum of 20 cards across all banks will only begin on September 1, 2027. Cards already exceeding this number will continue to function; the limit will apply solely to the issuance of new cards.
During the initial year, the system will focus on accurate counting and preparation. Holders of large card collections will have time to evaluate which cards they actually use and which can be closed before the new issuance rules come into force.
Related articles
Scammers Pose as Employers to Remotely Lock iPhones and Demand Ransom
Russian police have warned of a new social engineering scheme in which fraudsters impersonate potential employers to gain control of victims' Apple devices. The attackers instruct targets to sign out of their personal Apple accounts and authenticate using credentials supplied by the supposed employer. Once the device links to the fraudster's account, the scammers can remotely lock the iPhone or iPad and demand payment for unlocking it. Authorities emphasize that paying the ransom does not guarantee recovery of the device and may lead to further extortion demands. Victims are advised never to enter third-party Apple credentials on personal hardware and to contact Apple Support with proof of purchase if a device is already locked. The scheme exploits the Find My and Activation Lock features built into iOS devices.
Scammers Target Remote Workers with Fake Compensation for Home Internet and Devices
Russian remote employees are being targeted by fraudsters impersonating employers, government agencies, and corporate IT departments. Attackers lure victims with promises of compensation for home internet costs and personal computers, directing them to fake sites for identity verification or SMS code submission. Instead of receiving payments, victims risk handing over account credentials or banking details to criminals. Another tactic involves urgent messages from supposed IT services demanding immediate access renewal or software updates via malicious links. The pressure of urgency aims to bypass caution, leading users to click links, enter passwords, or execute files before verifying the sender. Home networks present additional risks because users manage their own routers and connected devices, unlike secured office environments. Experts from Yandex recommend changing default router passwords, updating firmware, disabling quick device pairing, and isolating smart devices on a separate guest network.
Phishing Reports Fall 42.6% in June While Abused URLs Rise 3.2%
The Phishing Countermeasures Council recorded 72,370 phishing reports in June 2026, a 42.6% drop from 126,061 reports the previous month. Despite the decline in reports, the number of malicious URLs increased to 42,241, up 3.2% from the prior month. More than 90% of the phishing emails received by the council's monitoring addresses used unique domains. The largest share of attacks targeted the EC sector at 42.7%, followed by credit and finance services at 27.4%. The council noted that this marks the second consecutive month of declining reports after a peak in April.
WhatsApp Begins Limited Beta Testing of On-Device Scam Alert to Detect Fraud While Preserving End-to-End Encryption
WhatsApp has started limited beta testing of its Scam Alert feature, which uses an on-device machine learning model to analyze message patterns and linguistic indicators of fraud. The system runs entirely locally on the user's smartphone, ensuring that conversation content is never sent to WhatsApp or Meta. Users receive warnings about suspicious messages from unknown contacts and can choose to block, report, ignore, or mark the chat as trusted. To maintain transparency, each model release is logged in an immutable journal managed by Cloudflare with Ed25519 signatures and SHA-256 hashes. The company receives only anonymized statistics on detections and user actions. In parallel, Signal has introduced automatic key verification using a cryptographically verifiable log audited by Cloudflare and Trail of Bits.