False brokers began to drag Krasnoyarsk residents into dropper schemes

In 2025, the Bank of Russia discovered more than 2,000 illegal financial intermediaries posing as brokers, forex dealers and trustees. Over the year, their number increased by 13%. If earlier scammers limited themselves to stealing money and driving clients into debt, now they have begun to use their victims in dropper schemes – to withdraw stolen funds through their bank accounts.

First, false brokers promise quick earnings, for example, by trading cryptocurrencies or foreign securities. If a person agrees, the scammers create the illusion of real trading and even offer to withdraw the “first profit”. In fact, they only return a small part of the funds that the victim previously deposited into the pseudo-brokerage account.

After this, the person is convinced to take out a loan from the false broker for the so-called “insurance premium,” which is supposedly necessary to withdraw the remaining amount. The scammers assure that after the money is credited to the bank account, the client will repay the debt and remain in the black.

“The “insurance premium” comes to the victim’s bank account in parts – several transfers from different people. The false broker explains this by saying that other investors simply return their debts to him for their “insurance premiums.” Next, the person must transfer the entire amount received using the details of the pseudo-broker,” reads the information on the “Financial Culture” portal of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

In fact, the transfers that go into a person’s account are money that scammers stole from other people. And as soon as he sends the “contribution” to the false broker, he becomes a dropper – an intermediary in their scheme and an unwitting accomplice in the crime.

Let us remind you that in Russia droppering can result in heavy fines and a prison term of up to 3 years. In addition, it is the dropper who often has to compensate for the damage to the victims, since formally the money was transferred to him.

Before entrusting funds to a financial intermediary, experts recommend checking it using the Bank of Russia directory. If the company is not there, working with it can be dangerous.

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