Central Bank: Fraudsters began to scare Russians with the loss of money due to the disconnection of banks from SWIFT

Fraudsters have taken advantage of the situation in the banking sector amid the imposition of sanctions against Russia and are calling Russians demanding to urgently withdraw money from their accounts. This is reported by the Central Bank in its Telegram channel.

“People all over the country are getting so many calls or messages from scammers. It is very important not to lose vigilance and not to succumb to intimidation and panic. Now the most common method of scammers is calls demanding to urgently withdraw all money from bank accounts, because they will not be available after SWIFT is turned off, ”the message says.

Russian banks, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, fell under sanctions due to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, and opportunities for attracting foreign capital were hindered for a number of state-owned companies. Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. As it became known, the Russian banks that fell under the sanctions will not be able to issue new Visa and Mastercard cards. The issued cards will continue to work within the country.

Earlier, Mastercard disconnected several Russian banks from its payment system “in accordance with sanctions orders.” The international payment system Visa was reported to be taking “quick action” to enforce Western sanctions against Russia over its military operation in Ukraine.