Ukraine’s parliament backs criminal penalties for drop schemes in first reading

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has approved draft law No. 16013 in the first reading, opening the door to criminal liability for illegal operations involving payment instruments, bank accounts, and access to them. For PSPs and banks, the practical issue is not the headline penalty grid; it is whether suspicious accounts can be identified and blocked before the money moves through the chain.

1. On 15 September 2026, the bill was adopted as a basis with a shortened preparation period for the second reading. The proposed penalties are not yet in force.
2. The draft is aimed in part at so-called “drops” — people who hand over their cards, bank details, or account access for use in criminal schemes. For transferring one’s own card, login data, or access to a bank or payment account, or an e-wallet, with the purpose of enabling fraud by others, the bill proposes a fine of 5 100 to 17 000 UAH.
3. Harsher liability is set out for receiving, buying, storing, transporting, or selling someone else’s cards and banking data for the same purpose. That conduct could trigger a fine of 51,000 to 170,000 UAH, restriction of liberty for two to five years, or imprisonment for two to six years. A repeat offense could carry five to eight years in prison.
4. The bill also introduces liability for forgery of payment instructions, as well as unlawful issuance or use of e-money. The proposed sanction there is a fine of 51,000 to 85,000 UAH, or restriction or deprivation of liberty for two to four years. Theft, appropriation, or obtaining payment instruments by deception could bring up to five years’ imprisonment.
5. The editor’s note is the part operators should care about: criminalization alone will not solve drop schemes without early detection of suspicious accounts. The key variable will be how quickly banks and law enforcement can exchange information and separate willing participants from clients whose data was stolen by fraudsters. Otherwise, the new sanctions will mostly bite after the funds have already passed through the account chain.

The bill was initiated by President Volodymyr Zelensky. The source also points to a prior State Financial Monitoring Service figure: 200 billion UAH in suspicious financial transactions and 12,000 drops.