Courier Detained After Targeting 98-Year-Old in Saratov Scam

In Saratov, a 19-year-old college student suspected of acting as a «courier» for phone scammers has been detained. This was reported by the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Saratov Region.

A 98-year-old resident of the Volzhsky District contacted the police on January 14. He was called allegedly «from the polyclinic,» offering to schedule a doctor«s appointment, and they extracted his passport details and an SMS code. After that, the pensioner was called »from the military police« and told that illegal activities were allegedly being funded in his name. The man was convinced to hand over all his savings to a courier »for declaration.« As a result, he gave away 400,000 rubles (about $4,300 at current rates).

Law enforcement officers found out that the money was collected by a previously unconvicted student. It also became known that he was involved in another case. Then, the victim of the fraud was a 93-year-old resident of the Oktyabrsky District, who lost more than 600,000 rubles (about $6,500 at current rates).

«Don»t fall for this job, guys. It won«t lead to anything good. Don»t give in to promises of large sums, you still have time to earn money in life,« the student said during interrogation.

The young man was placed under house arrest as a preventive measure. According to the city police department, he admitted that he found «work» on a social network, received addresses from «curators,» collected money from elderly people, and transferred it to specified accounts, keeping a percentage for himself. A criminal case has been opened.