Banks on guard or how Sberbank of the Russian Federation blocked indie project accounts

Do you make your own game project and pay freelancers periodically?
Your project is still at such a stage that it doesn’t even make sense to register a separate legal entity and open a separate account?
You have not encountered the problems of bank transfers?
Want to find out what you may encounter with frequent transfers of money to individuals?

If you answered yes to at least one of these questions, then you should read this note.

Instead of introducing


I am not a programmer, not an artist and not a game designer. I can attribute myself to that type of socially hated roles in game dev, which is often called the "Director". But besides the fact that I’m constantly going into my own business in terms of giving advice on how and what to do, I’m also the person who, in addition to his time, invests money in the project and in the team.

About a year ago, I began to assemble a group of like-minded people who would be able to implement a mid-level mobile game project. Having collected offers from studios that promised to do everything on a turnkey basis and a little stunned by the price tag (which, by the way, was pegged to the dollar), I decided to take a more creative path and personally selected people for the project. It was important for me that we speak the same language, and also that their final vision of the product coincides with mine.

One way or another, the team was formed. Someone was a professional freelancer (i.e. worked exclusively for himself as orders were received); someone had a main place of work, and took part in the project in his free time; someone just did a one-time job like rendering a logo or website design.

Any work must be paid.


If people put their energy into the project and spend their time on it, then in addition to offering them a bright idea, I strongly believe that the desire to create should be financially motivated. Since my resources are limited, the size of material incentives was not the same as the giants of the gaming industry can afford. But the point is not even in the amount of compensation, but in the approach itself.

Any team that makes a project on their own and attracts freelancers raises the question of how, how and with what money transfer system to pay. As a rule, such a situation rarely happens that you are all sitting in the same city and you can just meet to transfer cash. Most often, all participants in the process are spread across the country (at best, one each).

Exactly the same situation is with our project, where geography is presented from Khabarovsk to Kiev. But the situation with foreign partners seems to be clear: these are either electronic money systems or actual transfers (which is better), such as Western Union or Zolotaya Korona, as they are more efficient and it is easier for the counterparty to withdraw money through them.
But I did not want to strain much with transfers within Russia.
It so happened that in Russia we have one bank that has practically monopolized retail.

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* Source: RBC. Rating

The table shows data for 2013, but I am more than sure that fundamentally they have not changed. And the leadership of the leader has become even more obvious.

Having previously compared the systems of mobile and online banks, as well as based on personal experience (since I myself am an active user of mobile applications of three Russian banks), I made my choice in favor of Sberbank.

Firstly , almost 80% of the freelancers with whom I worked have Sberbank cards. This means that I can transfer money simply by phone number, which is tied to a bank card.
Secondly , Sberbank’s mobile bank is quite convenient and efficient.
Thirdly , without confirmation (namely, in 1 click) I can send the amounts I need.

For example, using the same service in Alfa Bank, I often need to call the call center and confirm the operation. And at Sberbank I can perform such operations in the amount of up to 100,000 rubles during the day. When working with freelancers, as you know, I did not step over this limit.
Therefore, I was very surprised when they called me from my bank so dearly beloved.

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And in all this I cover you


And so we sawed the project, everything went with its rough edges in terms of the production process: deadlines were broken, the concept layouts of the playing field were redone, the visual style was changing. At the same time, we all work on a remote site and keep regular contact via Skype. We have two programmers in our team, a game designer, more than ten artists who change periodically. There is also a composer, a person who helps make videos and many others are involved in the project on an irregular basis. In general, a fairly standard process of the modern Russian game indie project.

One fine day I received a phone call, and the girl on the other end of the line informed me that if I did not submit documents confirming my transactions to Sberbank, then all my accounts with Sberbank (cards and mobile bank) would be blocked, and I would be charged with money I can not use it. To my question, what kind of operations were those that were in doubt and how exactly should I confirm them, I could not get an answer then. I asked the girl to introduce herself in order to know where to find the ends later, but the girl refused to do this. Instead, she consulted with a man about what to say and what not. I heard snippets of phrases, as she apparently didn’t cover the phone well with her hand. As a result, after I informed her that I would understand and write a statement, the same man picked up the phone from the girl, who said so that I don’t interrupt him and bring to the bank all the necessary documents. Like, they received information from the compliance service that my operations are equated to fraudulent, and they received an order to block all my accounts.

The most interesting thing is that nowhere was it indicated exactly which operations I should confirm and for what period.
It just so happened that I have a friend in the structure of Sberbank, to whom I told this story and who told me that the situation smacks of some kind of fraud. Since if they wanted to block me, they would block, but would not call and not warn that they would do it from tomorrow.

Out of my kindness, I believed him and did not do anything. And they took me according to the plan and blocked the very next day.

By the way here, so that you understand, I will give a small explanation of what kind of operations took place on my card.
I have a brokerage account where I invested free money in shares of Russian companies. An account was opened more than 7 years ago in the largest Russian broker. Since I started investing in games, I transferred money from him to my account at Sberbank. Further, with this money, I made my daily purchases, and also made transfers to team members, bought domains, paid for a Unity license, etc.
That's all my operations.

After blocking my accounts, I naturally came to Sberbank and provided them with a statement from the brokerage account, which shows that it was I who transferred the money to myself, and it was I who spent that money later. But the bank employees did not satisfy such an explanation. Moreover, they themselves had a poor idea of ​​what exactly I needed to do so that they could unblock me. On the face there was a clear lack of coordination between the bank divisions and the absolute absence of a customer-oriented approach.

After a week I did not receive a response from Sberbank employees, what should I do to solve the situation, I again contacted my friend inside the bank. Sberbank, by the way, is a huge machine where so many people work that it is unlikely that they would all fit together even in Luzhniki. So he went to the authorities of those who blocked me and then had a conversation with them himself.

But this did not ease my fate. Almost every day for a week I received new requests through my friend. Sberbank wanted to see documented evidence of all the operations on the account that I conducted for six months.

Then I provided them with copies of the contracts with each of the team members. This was not enough, and I was asked to provide a source of money origin. I sent my 2-NDFL form to Sberbank over the past 3 years, from where it was possible to see how much money I received. This response from compliance specialists also did not satisfy. They asked me to provide statements from my other bank accounts and statements from the brokerage account for the last 3 years, where it would be clear when and from what sources I replenished the brokerage account. Fortunately, other banks and the brokerage office turned out to be friendlier, and in a short time they prepared the relevant certificates for me, which I sent to Sberbank.

After a couple of weeks of torment, I still won. But what did they answer me? I was told that they can’t unlock my card, but can only re-issue it, because in their internal system I’m marked as a “scammer”.

As a result, I realized that the presumption of innocence does not apply in our country. Sberbank initially believed that I was guilty of fraudulent transactions and chose to block me. I had to prove my innocence. As I was later explained, my operations resemble a money laundering scheme. To my question, how can this be similar to money laundering, if I myself transferred money from one bank to a white bank to another bank and then also transferred money to other people in white - no one could explain me.

The position of Sberbank, the employees of which demanded that all possible documents be presented, without indicating which particular operations need to be confirmed, was explained by the fact that they wanted to unearth everything possible, without realizing where fraud could be. Moreover, the unprofessionalism of employees and client managers that I came across indicates that by and large they don’t care about their clients. And if I hadn’t known me in the structure of the bank, they would not even have contacted me, but I would have remained in the status of a “fraudster” and could no longer open accounts and cards at Sberbank.

Therefore, if you are doing your projects with the help of freelancers, and often perform card transactions, be prepared for the fact that at any time you may be required to do the very best of your income and the grounds for transferring funds to other persons. Even if you are doing a project for yourself.

For me, this game project is still purely the costs that I bear. Therefore, such close attention of bank employees was a revelation for me. Why, then, do such functions in a mobile bank as transferring money between bank customers in 1 click if it is impossible to use it normally?

Finally


What has this life experience taught me once again.

  1. Even if you are doing a project for yourself and do not yet take it on a wide commercial footing, take maximum care of the transparency of your finances and documentation.
  2. Always have reserve reserves in another bank (preferably without a controlling shareholder represented by the state). This will help you to avoid a situation where your personal money for food, payment of an apartment, etc. can be blocked.
  3. Keep a history of all your payments. Keep a simple expense register. Then it will greatly facilitate your search for ends.
  4. Do not be afraid to prove your case to such financial institutions as Sberbank. People work everywhere, and it is people who are the cause of the inefficiency of organizations.

I hope this article will be useful to you, and if you decide to use such schemes. Think in advance what documents you should overlay.

Big Brother is watching you.

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