The Verkhovna Rada is considering measures to combat "drops": new restrictions on card transfers are among them

The Temporary Investigation Commission in the Verkhovna Rada is considering a number of effective solutions to combat drops. Among them are toughening banks' requirements for financial monitoring and restricting turnover without income verification. The head of the TIC, First Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy Yaroslav Zheleznyak said this in Telegram, UNN reports.

Zheleznyak cited the NBU's statement that one drop passes through UAH 2-2.5 million per year.

"...even for the 80 thousand drops identified by the NBU, this is already somewhere around UAH 200 billion per year, according to very conservative estimates. And these are only the "drops" for two large banks," added the head of the TSC.

According to him, the scheme began to develop especially actively after the "miscoding" scheme was closed in 2023

"Tax losses will exceed UAH 50 billion. Often, people unknowingly become participants in such a crime. But there are those who go from bank to bank to open their accounts, which they then sell to criminals. One card lives for a couple of months before being blocked. But they usually manage to open a bunch more cards. Very often, drops are hidden under the guise of volunteers," Zheleznyak wrote.

The PIC chairman outlined several effective solutions to combat this phenomenon:

- is a register of accounts that makes it possible to see "compromised" accounts and individuals;

- tightening banks' financial monitoring requirements and restricting turnover without proof of income;

- limiting the initial volumes of p2p and the number of p2p (which will increase the cost of servicing the scheme 5-8 times). We are currently consulting with the volunteer community;

- restrictions on attracting new customers for those who do not provide control;

- introducing technical means of monitoring the use of cards in the drop system.

Recall

Earlier, NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi told the media that the National Bank plans to finalize a decision to restrict p2p (card-to-card) transfers for individuals by the end of this week to combat drop schemes.