Russian tourists in Türkiye are running into serious problems when trying to pay by QR code through the Faster Payments System, known as SBP, according to Russian media reports published this week. Some banks are suspending transactions at the till for up to 24 hours over anti-fraud checks, leaving holidaymakers unable to pay in shops, restaurants or pharmacies at the height of the summer season.
The issue has intensified since SBP payment services began operating in Türkiye in April 2026. Over the summer, users of Sber in particular have reported blocked payments, refused transactions and temporary holds on funds, according to Izvestiya and The Moscow Times.
One tourist, identified only as Yuri, told Izvestiya he repeatedly tried to pay by QR code in shops and cafes in Istanbul and Antalya, but Sber suspended the transfer every time. A correspondent for the same outlet reported experiencing an identical problem. Complaints about blocked SBP payments in Türkiye have also surfaced in travellers’ chat groups on Telegram, where one user described being redirected to another bank’s confirmation page, only for the payment to be frozen for 24 hours regardless.
The disruption is not confined to individual travellers. Mahmut Dikbas, who owns a chain of hotels in Antalya, confirmed to Russian media that some venues connected to Russian banking services process SBP payments smoothly, while others generate repeated failures. Sber has said that payments through SBP may be suspended “for security purposes.”
According to a statement relayed through the bank’s own support chat, the holds are linked to additional protective measures introduced in response to a rise in fraud cases. Customers are advised to retry the payment after 24 hours or to use another person’s card as a workaround, a suggestion experts say is impractical for a simple purchase at checkout.
The timing coincides with a broader regulatory shift in Russia. In late June 2026, President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing banks to block customer money transfers, including both card payments and SBP transfers, for up to six hours if the transaction appears suspicious. That change applies domestically as well as to cross-border transactions of the kind causing problems for tourists in Türkiye.
Valeria Smirnova, an expert on legal risk in the digital environment, said attempts to pay by QR code from abroad routinely trigger banks’ automatic anti-fraud screening. She explained that the system flags transactions made from an unfamiliar IP address, through a new payment method, or when money is being sent to a recipient for the first time. “A restaurant, shop or pharmacy will not wait a day for the bank to clear a payment. In practice, the payment tool exists on paper but cannot actually be used by the customer,” Smirnova said.
Alexey Egarmin, chief executive of the Russian-Turkish Business Council under the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the payment chain for these transactions involves several intermediaries, and technical problems can arise at any stage of that process. He and other specialists argue that banks should warn customers in advance about possible restrictions overseas and move to approve safe transactions more quickly rather than defaulting to blanket delays.
Travel and legal specialists are recommending that tourists check the rules for using SBP abroad with their bank before departing for Türkiye and, where possible, notify the bank of their travel plans in advance. They also advise using the standard QR payment method, in which the merchant’s terminal or app pre-fills the product and purchase amount, rather than completing a transfer to a phone number, which carries a higher fraud-check risk and should be cancelled if prompted.
Albert Anufriev, a lawyer and managing partner at Forseti and Ting, said many Russian financial institutions now offer debit cards issued by banks in third countries, such as Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, as a practical backup. Cash remains the simplest fallback option, particularly for travellers who may face intermittent restrictions on Russian payment services at the point of sale.
The reports highlight a growing practical problem for Russian visitors in one of the country’s most popular overseas destinations. A payment system that works on paper can fail at the checkout counter, creating friction for travellers who have come to rely on cashless and mobile payments while abroad. As SBP usage expands across more of Türkiye’s tourist regions, experts say the solution lies not in loosening fraud controls but in making bank confirmation faster and clearer, so a legitimate purchase does not turn into a day-long delay.
