Russia’s Sberbank now evading sanctions by using Revolut and Germany’s N26

Russia’s Sberbank, which is disconnected from the international financial information transfer system SWIFT, has the ability to send rubles with conversion into euros to foreign accounts in European banks. This is reported in The Bell. 

Journalists have found out that Sberbank allows transferring money to accounts of at least two European neobanks: the British-Lithuanian Revolut and the German N26.

“We sent two transfers to different cards: the commission for transferring 3,000 rubles was 30 rubles, the transaction was carried out at a rate of just over 100 rubles per euro (the official rate of the Central Bank is 91 rubles). Another Sberbank client, with whom The Bell spoke, also successfully sent money to accounts in Revolut and N26,” the publication writes.

The sender, using the service in the Sberbank application, sees that he sends money directly to the specified European card. At the same time, the recipient of the transfer with accounts in Revolut received transactions from unknown senders. In two cases, the statement indicated that the money came from Dushanbe from a certain Ikbol Mamadsafoev, in another – from Tashkent. In another case, when the transfer was sent to the German N26, the sender of the transfer was indicated as Qpayoyt – this company is mentioned as a payment operator on a forum dedicated to problems with withdrawing winnings in online casinos.

Sberbank’s support service said that transfers to the EU are made “through the bank’s partners.” “It’s not dangerous. Such transfers have always been made at the bank,” the operator said.

According to him, a maximum of 500,000 rubles can be transferred using a card number in one transaction or up to three million rubles per month. The commission for transfers is 1% of the amount or a maximum of 3,000 rubles. The bank’s website has a list of countries where transfers can be made using a card number, but there is not a single EU country on it.

According to the publication’s source in the financial market, Sberbank separately built a system of transfers to Europe and other countries where it is formally impossible to send money directly. First, the bank sends rubles to an intermediary – a payment company in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan. Then this transfer is converted into cryptocurrency and sent to one of the partner providers, depending on the final purpose of the payment. This provider transfers the money to the final recipient, including using a “drop” card, that is, a person who provides their data to carry out various, including illegal, transactions. As a result, the final recipient receives the money as a personal transfer or payment for some services from an unknown sender.

Similar payment channels are used in online casinos, illegal bookmakers or crypto exchangers.

Revolut said that the transfer method described by journalists violated the terms of service.

“Such transfers may be blocked and the account frozen or closed. In addition, individuals who knowingly participate in circumventing international sanctions may incur serious personal legal and financial liability,” the company said.

N26 said it is constantly monitoring potential schemes that could be used to circumvent existing sanctions. Sberbank did not respond to The Bell’s request.

The fact that it is possible to send money from a Sberbank account to European cards was written about in mid-June by journalist Nikita Mogutin in his Telegram channel.