FSB shuts down nine unregistered crypto exchanges in Moscow City, with more than 20 detained

The Russian FSB says it dismantled a network of nine unregistered crypto exchange points in Moscow City, with more than 20 people detained. For high-risk payment operators, the useful part is not the theatre in a glass tower; it is the operating model: cash collection, crypto conversion, and allegedly laundering proceeds from phone fraud.

1. The FSB’s Central Public Relations Center said the exchange points operated inside the Moscow City business district. According to the statement, Ukrainian call centers used the network to legalize funds stolen from Russian victims through telephone fraud.
2. More than 20 people were detained. The exchanges reportedly hired remote workers from Russian regions, described in the source as young people with little financial literacy who were drawn in by promises of “easy money.”
3. Couriers allegedly collected cash from defrauded citizens, brought it to Moscow City, and handed it over at the exchange windows. The source says those involved now face Article 159, Part 4 of the Russian Criminal Code for fraud on a particularly large scale, which carries up to 10 years in prison.
4. The source frames the case as a 115-FZ and anti-money-laundering issue: operating an exchange without being in the Central Bank register, accepting cash tied to a victim’s identity, and transferring funds to Ukraine are presented as a combination that can trigger Article 174.1 of the Russian Criminal Code as well as complicity in fraud.
5. Investigators are also searching for victims, which in practice suggests the case already includes a traceable chain from the ordinary customer to a specific exchange window. For PSPs, that is the uncomfortable part: once cash intake, third-party collection, and crypto conversion sit in the same workflow, the compliance trail is the product.