Liability for illegal change of IMEI codes strengthened 

The law “On amendments and additions to the criminal, criminal-procedural and administrative responsibility codes” was approved.

It is noted that there are cases of demanding money from individuals by threatening to block mobile devices and accounts or channels on social networks, by threatening to delete, change or withdraw their data.

There are also cases of falsification of photo, voice and other biometric data of individuals with the help of special programs.

Therefore, the concept of extortion in the Criminal Code (Article 165) has been amended, and responsibility for the offense related to shameful fabrications has also been established.

In addition, cases of transferring IMEI codes of others to imported or blocked mobile communication devices for a certain fee are increasing. Currently, 5,011 SIM cards with one IMEI code and 2,347 SIM cards with another IMEI code are simultaneously active.

The legislation does not provide for the application of any legal measures against persons who have committed such actions.

Therefore, in order to eliminate these loopholes in the legislation, administrative liability for illegally changing the international unique identification code of a mobile device or the identification module of a subscriber device is included in the Criminal Procedural Code.

At the same time, the Criminal and Administrative Responsibility Codes provide for appropriate liability for violations of the legislation in the field of crypto-assets circulation and illegal activities of May.

Senators noted that those involved in the circulation and mining of illegal crypto-assets will be exempted from criminal liability in cases where they voluntarily report this crime and help to uncover it.