Russia cracks down on SIM card services

• By SMSPool Admin
• October 27, 2025
• News

We used to offer Russian phone numbers for SMS verification. Then the laws changed, and we couldn't anymore. Here's what happened.

The Regulatory Strategy

The Russian government didn't explicitly ban SMS verification services. They did something smarter: they made it legally impossible for anyone supplying the numbers to keep operating. Article 274.4 of the Russian Criminal Code, which took effect on September 1, 2025, criminalized the organization of activities for transferring SIM cards to third parties. We're talking serious criminal liability. Individuals face fines of up to 300,000 rubles or imprisonment for up to two years, while organizations face fines of up to 700,000 rubles or imprisonment for up to three years.

For SIM card suppliers sourcing Russian numbers, that law ended their business. You can't legally transfer SIM cards if doing so is a criminal offense. The suppliers we worked with faced a clear choice: cease operations or risk severe penalties including potential imprisonment for offering these SIM cards.

The Mobile Operator Crackdown

Anti-spam legislation that took effect on August 1, 2025, gave mobile operators broad authority to block automated SMS messages. This included verification codes, two-factor authentication alerts, and other application-to-person (A2P) communications. The carriers didn't hesitate. They started aggressively restricting these messages across the board, casting a wide net that caught legitimate service communications alongside actual spam.

Our suppliers couldn't work with us because they had no way to deliver verification codes reliably. Even if the SIM card transfer remained legal, the SMS messages themselves were being blocked before they reached users. The legal environment had become hostile to the entire operation.

The Market Effect

The laws didn't just discourage suppliers; they eliminated the legal pathway for them to operate. By criminalizing the supply chain and allowing mobile carriers to block the messages, the government effectively shut down the sim card service market without needing to issue explicit bans against SMS verification services specifically.

Our suppliers stopped offering Russian numbers to us, which resulted in us not being able to offer them either. Not because we wanted to abandon the market, but because the laws made it impossible to source Russian numbers legitimately or ensure their utility once obtained.

Online SMS Provider Impact

We're not alone in this situation. The regulatory environment has made Russian phone numbers effectively unavailable through most SMS verification service providers. The strategy was smart from a regulatory standpoint: rather than banning services directly (which creates political friction), the government criminalized the supply chain and blocked the delivery mechanism. It's a ban in everything but name.

For anyone still relying on Russian phone numbers for SMS verification, alternatives are increasingly limited due to these new laws. This represents a significant shift in how SMS verification services operate in the Russian market.

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