Credit has firmly entered the life of modern society. Both states and their citizens live in debt. It is understandable, with small salaries, saving up for a necessary and not very thing is long and tedious, but it takes years to save for an apartment or a good new car. With an economy that has fun as much as it can (the ruble is unstable, prices are constantly rising, and for everything), it is simply impossible to predict the future. Therefore, a loan for many people is an opportunity to live here and now. But here everything is not so simple: you can fall under one of the schemes of fraud when applying for a loan.
Terminology
We will deal with the concept itself.
Credit (lat. Creditum - loan from lat. Credere - trust) - economic relations in which one of the parties does not reimburse money or other resources immediately received from the other side, but promises to provide reimbursement (payment) or return resources in the future. In fact, a loan is the legal registration of an economic obligation.
In other words, a person borrows money from the bank for his own purposes, and repays it later, in parts and with interest, that is, he took 100 rubles, returned 120. The scheme is seemingly simple and understandable, but the simplified credit and loan conditions when only a passport is enough, it has generated a lot of fraud methods when applying for a loan. Here are some of them.
I got married without me
A loan is issued on forged documents. Of course, neither the bank nor the person whose passport is issued a loan is unaware of this. According to statistics, up to 70,000 such loans are issued per year. This is the most common method of credit fraud.
For this form of fraud, scammers forge or steal documents, but a lost passport becomes a gift of fate. Until a person understands what's what, up to 3 million rubles can be issued for his lost document in a short time. Consumer credit is the most suitable for this type of fraud. As the many years of banking experience shows, with this type of fraud, it is difficult to track attackers, and sometimes it is almost impossible to find.
Vasya, do you respect me?
When applying for a loan, close or family relationships are exploited. Under the pretext of a bad credit history or non-compliance with banking requirements, fraudsters persuade relatives, friends, friends or acquaintances to take out a loan or become a guarantor, assuring that all money will be paid on time. Indeed, several payments go through, and then the “friends” disappear. And all debt obligations lie on deceived people.
This is one of the most unscrupulous types of fraud in obtaining a loan, because it destroys trust between people. If you do not want to spoil relations and not be disappointed in people, then under no pretext do not get into debt obligations.
Money in the morning, evening chairs
Anyone and anywhere can fall for the scammers. Many retail chains, especially those that sell household appliances, make purchases on credit. On this fertile ground, credit fraud flourishes. The main mechanism for turning a scam is human greed.
And the scheme works like this: the buyer buys a TV for 100 thousand rubles, and when applying for a loan, the fraudster offers to buy goods from him for 40-50 thousand, plus he takes the loan repayment on himself, but the buyer must pay 10% of the down payment.Why do people "peck" at such a bait? Elementary, just a strong desire for easy money clouds the mind. And then the “benefactor” disappears, and a person pays a loan for goods that he does not have, since all bank documents have his signatures. Only cheese in a mousetrap is free.
Trust but check
There are frequent cases when bank employees themselves engage in fraud during the processing of a loan. They may be in collusion or helping criminals. One of these schemes of "processing" the client operates under the advertisement: "Quick loan without a certificate of income." When a client applies for a loan and submits documents, several loan agreements are drawn up on his passport.
For greater reliability, he is asked to pay for a credit card, and then, on a plausible pretext, they refuse to grant a loan. After a while, an unsuspecting person begins to receive notifications from the bank about debt repayment. Naturally, the trail of fraudsters has long cooled down.
Black raven, why are you curling
Another way of almost honestly taking money from citizens is through the activities of black dealers. They offer to “clean up” the documents for a small fee, that is, to forge a statement of income, etc., so that the loan application is approved by the bank. But this type of fraud, in the first place, puts the client himself at risk, since fake documents are usually detected by the security service. After that, the bank not only does not issue a loan, but also forwards it with a “wolf ticket”, that is, with a damaged credit history. And this is at best, at worst - such a grief-client is waiting for administrative or criminal punishment.
Without a specific residence
One of the most cruel types of fraud when applying for a loan was recorded in 2017 in Moscow and a number of other large cities - this is the execution of “under the guise” of a real estate purchase and sale agreement. The goal of such scammers was pensioners in need of money. When applying for a loan, along with loan agreements, a pensioner personally but unconsciously signed a document on the sale of an apartment. Swindlers act in concert, focusing on the carelessness and legal illiteracy of people.
An old man, whose cognitive speed decreases with age, is given a large number of papers for signature. At the same time, the attention of a person is constantly distracted by conversations and questions so that he cannot concentrate on reading documents. In addition, the client is constantly being driven up, citing a lack of time. As a result, in a state of stress, the client signs everything that fraudsters palm off on him, and remains without apartments on the street. There is only one way to prove the fact of credit fraud in this situation: to declare the transaction invalid until the apartment is removed from the cadastral register. Lawyers suggest in a statement to the court that they emphasize their lack of professionalism and the discrepancy in the amount of the cadastral value of the housing sold.
The described cases are just the tip of the iceberg: scammers improve and come up with new schemes of profit.
How not to become a victim?
Fraudsters are good psychologists. They play on human weaknesses: greed, carelessness, credulity, etc. In order not to become victims of fraud when applying for a loan at a bank, the following should be considered:
- Apply for a loan to trusted institutions and organizations. A reputable bank, at least, has an office and its own website.
- Do not give your documents to even your friends, do not disclose personal data. Do not leave copies of documents in unknown organizations.
- Immediately declare the invalidity of lost personal documents a statement to the police and a note in the newspaper.
- Do not sign documents in a hurry, carefully read each page: both large and small fonts.
- Put control of your own credit history - this will help track the “mishandled Cossacks,” that is, other people's loans.Issue an SMS notification of any changes: issuing a loan in your name, using your personal data, etc.
- Be decent and conscientious in relations with credit organizations.
Ideally, the most reliable way to avoid becoming a victim of credit fraud is to live within our means and not take loans. But what if the swindlers are already rich at your expense?
What to do with “other people's” loans?
The first thing a deceived person experiences when he finds out about his credit debts is a shock. The main thing here is not to panic, but to act decisively and harmoniously.
The first thing to do is write a police fraud statement.
Next, you need to require a copy of the agreements with the bank for identification of the signature. Make a graphological examination.
Then you should file a claim with the bank, which indicates the objective reason (if there was a fact) of your physical impossibility of obtaining a loan: departure, loss of documents, etc.
After that, a copy of the surveillance cameras should be requested for identification.
And most importantly - get ready for exhausting court events.
Fraud law
In 2012, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was supplemented by articles providing for penalties for various types of fraud, including fraud in obtaining bank loans. In a scientific article, the author K. A. Murzin points to one feature. Article 159.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Credit fraud” implies:
- crime structure - theft of money;
- criminal - an unscrupulous borrower who provided false information and false documents;
- the victim is a credit organization.
The author offers a detailed understanding of the situation. Who does the article protect against credit fraud?
Application problems
Judging by the wording, article 159.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is aimed at protecting banks and credit organizations from intruders. But judging by the fraudulent schemes, not only banks, but also respectable citizens, become the victims of scams. Here, people who suffer from fraud when applying for a loan come into defense, article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Fraud” and articles 176 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and 14.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation “Illegal obtaining of a loan”.
The problem of applying the articles of the Criminal Code is hotly discussed among lawyers, because it generates competition among the members. The severity and punishment of the perpetrators (from a fine of 120,000 rubles to imprisonment of up to 6 years) depends on what article will be qualified in a criminal case. But, as practice shows, it is not always possible to prove credit fraud under Article 159.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, because there are many ambiguities: how to qualify false and inaccurate information, whether there was malicious intent, etc.
According to statistics, about 25,000 people are convicted of fraud per year in Russia. And this is a small amount, because banks provide for the risks of fraud and do not sue.
Who is guilty?
Many lawyers agree that banking organizations themselves contribute to the emergence of credit fraud. Strong competition between banks for customers has led to a simplification of the requirements for concluding loan agreements, to a decrease in the quality and superficial verification of borrowers.
Also, banks do not like to take dirty linen out of their huts: they hide the facts of non-payment of debts so as not to spoil their reputation, which also contributes to the flourishing of fraud.
Another banking practice is at hand for swindlers: default of the debtor. The borrower does not have funds and property to cover the debt or the debtor himself is absent, then the bank recognizes the loan as bad and writes it off. For their insurance, banks put all the risks of non-payment into interest rates, that is, respectable citizens who pay both for themselves and “for that guy” again suffer from scammers.
Time bomb
Recently, the Russian media and Runet have been discussing the biggest scam of the Central Bank of Russia with currency codes, which began in 1998 and continues to this day.
In the 90s, the dream of the Russians came true, and everyone became millionaires. This was due to frenzied inflation, which in those years almost depreciated the ruble every day. Chewing gum, for example, which now costs 5 rubles, cost 1000 rubles for that money. In 1998, a currency denomination takes place, and 1000 rubles turn into 1 ruble. Everything returned to normal: the number of millionaires dropped sharply. Now, the salaries of Russians were not in the millions, but in the hundreds.
Before the ruble was denominated, the Russian currency code was 810 RUR, while exchanging money the code also changed to 643 RUB. After January 1, 2004, the code 810 RUR was declared invalid by all legislative acts. This was recognized by everyone except the Central Bank, which issues its regulations, where the code 810 RUR is recognized as a sign of the ruble and is used in all banking operations: loans are issued under the code 810 RUR, deposits are accepted under the code 810 RUR, etc. It turns out that we issue loans in non-existent currency. What is the catch here?
The problem is that the code 810 RUR to the code 643 RUB is 1000 rubles to 1 ruble. If the depositor put, for example, 2000 rubles and signed an agreement where the currency code is 810 RUR, then the bank can give 2 rubles instead of 2000 rubles.
Who benefits from this confusion with codes? This question remains open. But people care more. The events of 1992, when the accumulations of all the citizens of the USSR that were stored in books at the state bank, were still freshly remembered overnight. The people were literally robbed before our eyes, and people could not do anything. Now that the economy is unstable, this ghost of a non-existent ruble, which appears in all financial documents, at the request of those in power, can leave the people penniless legally.