The Bank of Russia has denied information about mass blocking of cards

On January 19, the Bank of Russia denied reports of mass blocking of citizens' cards.

"The Bank of Russia, which maintains a database on fraudulent transactions, does not agree with experts' estimates of the number of blocked cards," RIA Novosti quoted the regulator as saying.

The statement states that from January 1 to January 19, 2026, 7,431 applications related to the blocking of bank cards were received from citizens. The press service noted that this figure is two times lower than the usual number of such requests.

Possible freezes: entrepreneurs are increasingly faced with account locks

Why is a business temporarily deprived of access to money and what to do about it

Earlier in the day, the newspaper Kommersant reported that in the first weeks of 2026, Russian banks temporarily blocked about 2-3 million cards and accounts of individuals as part of the fight against fraud. As the publication noted, the sharp increase in the number of restrictions is associated with the entry into force on January 1 of the order of the Bank of Russia, which doubled the list of signs of suspicious transactions under 161-FZ to 12 criteria.

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