Fashionable investments and easy loans: fraudster tricks in 2026 H1
Between January and June 2026, the Bank of Russia detected 2,900 projects bearing signs of illegal activities, including Ponzi schemes. Their number fell by 31% year on year but was comparable with the 2025 H2 figure.
The total number of illegal operators dropped largely following a decrease in that of Ponzi schemes. The Bank of Russia detects and blocks their websites as soon as they are launched and then monitors the emergence of and limits the access to duplicate websites. This year, fraudsters tended to lure customers with fashionable investments. For instance, the fraudulent schemes that were successfully disrupted included fake investments in cryptocurrencies, data centres supporting mining, and ‘in-house’ digital assets. Fraudsters initiating these projects usually accept contributions in cryptocurrency. In this way, they received payments worth more than ₽1 billion to their crypto wallets in the first half of the year alone.
The number of loan sharks’ offers doubled to reach 1,000. There are two reasons for that. The first one is rising demand for extra finance from overindebted people. Banks and microfinance organisations impose stringent requirements on these borrowers. Illegal lenders use this situation to lure highly-indebted customers with attractive rates and terms. The second reason is that the Bank of Russia statistics now include shadow lending cases where loans secured on property are provided by individuals or individual entrepreneurs.
More details of illegal financial activities in 2026 H1 are presented in the Bank of Russia material.