Online Scams in Moscow

Fake Tourist Mir Card Issuance Service

Because Visa and Mastercard have not functioned anywhere in Russia since 2022 -- not at ATMs, shop terminals, or Moscow Metro ticket machines -- and Apple, Google and Samsung Pay are equally dead, a visitor's only cashless option is a Russian Mir card or a UnionPay card. Settling a transaction in foreign currency is itself illegal. That squeeze has produced a market of websites and messaging-app agents offering to arrange a Mir 'tourist card' remotely before arrival, typically charging a service fee in the 100 to 400 USD range and requesting a passport scan, selfie, and payment by international transfer or cryptocurrency. The card is often never issued, and the passport scan is a durable asset for identity fraud regardless. The pitch works because the process sounds plausible: a genuine remote route does exist through some authorised banks. What the sites conceal is that walking into a Russian bank branch with a passport gets the same card, free at many banks, with branches operating inside the Moscow airports on arrival. Related documented fraud involves persuading a victim to link a card inside a Mir Pay wallet and then deposit cash to it via ATM, after which the funds are gone -- the same tokenised-wallet mechanic dressed up as card activation.