Scheme 1. “Guardians”
A new and relevant scheme in which illegal lenders offer consumer loans under the guise of warehousing services. The customer is offered to leave the thing for storage after receiving a security deposit. And after a certain time – after 30 days, for example, the customer must receive it, return the payment and pay a commission for storage.
“Such “custodians” position their services as legal. They even sign a storage agreement. But this is a scam: in fact, with such a scheme, the client receives a loan secured by the property,
the deposit is the amount of the loan, the thing is the pledge, and the storage fee is the percentage of use of money, ”said Anton Saikin, head of the fight against illegal activities of the main department of the Central Bank of the Central Federal District.
The expert explained that these are signs of illegal lending, which could lead to breach of contract terms, receipt of money much less than the true value of the thing, and premature sale of the property. He also gave examples of such organizations – Yuvelia + LLC, Gelyuta LLC.
At the same time, black creditors can also use illegal debt collection methods such as “iron and soldering iron”.
Scheme 2. Loans in social networks
The share of “black lenders” advertising their services online is over 42% and their number is growing rapidly.
Previously these were just websites of organizations that offer instant online loans, disguised as legitimate microfinance institutions, now they have added multiple pages to social networks as well as advertisements on Telegram channels.
Some citizens offer loans from their own money by promoting services through personal pages or online groups. This is a pretty cheap way. However, the regular provision of loans refers to professional activities in the financial market, individuals do not have such a right.
“It is possible to give a loan to a friend for once, albeit with interest. It is illegal to constantly issue loans, search for customers on social networks, disseminate information about such activities without proper status, ”saikin stressed.
Since February last year, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation has initiated the blocking of pages on the network containing information about illegal services. The principle of restricting access is the same as with other fake sites through the Prosecutor General’s Office and Roskomnadzor. The process takes several days.
Scheme 3. Loans from individuals
In order to circumvent the law, some organizations have begun to mask their activities by distributing money from various collaborators, contrary to the security of their property. A separate lender is selected for each borrower.
“From a legal point of view, these transactions are carried out within the framework of individual civil law relations. That is, it is very difficult to object to such a transaction in court. After all, it is assumed that people agree with each other and that the debtor knows what he is getting into, ”saikin explained.
For legal entities, a company must be registered in the relevant registry of the Central Bank or have a license in order to be able to issue consumer loans. Thus, a borrower from an illegally operating organization can challenge such an agreement in court.
“This does not happen between individuals. This scheme is dangerous because often the purpose of illegal creditors is not to make a profit by paying off the debt with interest, but to put the debtor in default on the contract.
And after that, scammers can recover the debt by confiscating property and selling collateral, such as an apartment or car that is the property of the victim, ”said the expert.
Scheme 4. Commission stores under the guise of pawnshops
Legal pawnshops operate in accordance with federal law. The official name of such an organization should contain the word “pawn shop”. The Bank of Russia keeps track of and supervises such organizations.
“There are unscrupulous brokers who mislead customers by disguising themselves as pawnshops.
The customer who turns to such an organization thinks he is interacting with a pawnshop. He gives something, takes money, hopes to give it back. However, according to the documents, the transaction appears to be a transfer of the property to the store for upfront sale.
The company, of course, verbally guarantees that it can buy if necessary, ”said the representative of the Central Bank.
In practice, he added, such situations can result in a large loss of interest or property for the customer because the product may already have been sold by the time the loan is repaid.
Examples of establishments with signs where such activities are detected are Lombard 911 second hand store, Nofelet 33 second hand store and Boomerang second hand store.
Scheme 5. Leaseback
The “leaseback” scheme of a car remains in effect, and their advertisements often appear to be “loans secured by a technical equipment passport”.
“A leaseback plan is not prohibited by law if certain requirements are met. For example, if a company provides money for entrepreneurial purposes. But “black lenders” are hiding behind this scheme to provide consumer loans to individuals,” Saikin explained.
For him, the danger lies in the fact that the creditor can charge high interest rates, impose fines, impose fines, forge documents, and often take away property.
The fact is that under the leaseback plan the car is sold to the lender and the owner uses it as a tenant.
But the “black creditor” deliberately creates conditions for the debtor’s inability to fulfill the contract, for example, to make timely payments, which, according to the terms of the contract, allows the current owner of the car to withdraw it.
Examples of organizations where signs of such activities are detected are Promo Finance LLC, Trust-Avto-Group LLC, Phoenix Leasing MSK LLC.
“Only legal financial institutions that have a license or are in government records can issue consumer loans. You can check the company on the website of the Bank of Russia. If it is not on the legal lists, it is better to look for another creditor, ”saikin summarized.
To suppress illegal activity in the financial market, the regulator sends information about all the facts that have come to light to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the prosecutor’s office and the Federal Antitrust Service.
In the first half of 2023, approximately 70 criminal cases and more than 300 administrative cases were initiated regarding violations of illegal financial market participants, and more than 600 other intervention measures were taken. With the initiative of the Central Bank, access to more than 5 thousand sources of illegal immigrants on the Internet was restricted.