Extremist scams Samokat, eats delivery, sells bike

21-year-old Krasnoyarsk resident Kirill Stepanov deceived a partner of the delivery service Samokat twice. First, he received an advance for buying a bicycle and disappeared. Then he returned, took a company bicycle — and disappeared again. He sold the bicycle at a radio market for 500 rubles (about $6 at current rates), and simply ate the order with cheese curds and fruits. Even earlier, he was convicted for publicly justifying terrorism and added to the list of extremists and terrorists by Rosfinmonitoring (Russia«s financial monitoring agency).

The story began in spring 2024, when Stepanov bought a used iPhone 6S. In the phone«s gallery, he found a photo of someone else»s passport. The young man decided that the find would come in handy.

It came in handy in the summer of the following year. The guy decided to get a job as a courier for Samokat, but not to work. He learned that new employees are paid an advance of 15,000 rubles (about $180 at current rates) to buy a bicycle. The plan was simple: get the money, not work, spend it on renting an apartment.

The problem was that all his bank accounts were frozen. Then Stepanov wrote to a friend and proposed a scheme: the friend provides his details and registers as self-employed, the advance comes to his card, then they divide the money. For the help, the friend was to receive 1,500 rubles (about $18). The friend agreed.

The Krasnoyarsk resident sent the manager someone else«s passport details, completed an internship — worked a whole three hours — and waited for the money. When 15,000 rubles came to the friend»s card, he transferred 13,500 rubles (about $160) to Stepanov. At this point, his employment with the Samokat partner should have ended. But it didn«t.

When the manager called to find out why the new courier wasn«t showing up for shifts, he explained: the advance hadn»t arrived yet, and there was no money to buy a bicycle. The young man was offered a solution — take a company bicycle. He agreed.

The next day, he came to the office on Molokova Street, signed a log for receiving a Forward brand bicycle worth 14,583 rubles (about $175), a lock with a chain, and a thermal bag. He was given his first order: milk, nectarines, apricots, plums, cheese pancakes with mango sauce, and several glazed cheese curds.

The young man got on the bicycle and rode off. But not to the customer. When the courier was 11 minutes late, the manager started calling. He rejected the calls, and then blocked the number. The customer never received the order.

Stepanov sold the bicycle the same day at a second-hand shop on the radio market. For 500 rubles (about $6). The order with products, as he himself admitted during interrogation, he «consumed.»

This is not the first conviction for the young Krasnoyarsk resident. In 2022, when he was 17 years old, he left comments on VKontakte (the social network) in which he approvingly spoke about shelling of Russian territory. A military court in Chita sentenced him to a fine of 400,000 rubles (about $4,800) for publicly justifying terrorism. At that time, the defendant was added to the list of terrorists and extremists. Over the year and a half since the verdict was issued, Stepanov paid just over a thousand rubles of the fine.

Now, the Sverdlovsky District Court of Krasnoyarsk found Kirill Stepanov guilty of two episodes of fraud. Taking into account the unserved punishment, the total fine amounted to 420,000 rubles (about $5,000) with installment payments over five years. He spent a month and a half in custody and was released in the courtroom.

His friend avoided punishment — the case was dismissed due to active repentance, and he compensated for the damage.

Samokat itself clarified to us that the courier worked for a partner company that independently hires performers. After the violations were identified, his access to the service was terminated. The company is strengthening requirements for checking candidates, including through open state registries.

The damage to the delivery service was compensated by the convict«s mother.

Earlier, NGS24.RU reported on a Krasnoyarsk resident who bought a girl an iPhone and sold it — and then lied to both her and the police.