Ural medic kills herself after scam, note shows
From her school days, Marina dreamed of becoming a medic and was deeply committed to her work.
In Asbest, a 37-year-old employee of a medical unit committed suicide after giving scammers a large sum. Marina did not tell her relatives that she had been tricked by fraudsters and simply disappeared suddenly.
Her body was found in a reservoir near a country recreation base after three days of searching. Marina«s outer clothing was left on the shore, with a suicide note inside. Only after reading the final message did her relatives learn what had been happening in the lab technician»s life shortly before her death.
“She Left a Farewell Note”
Even her closest relatives had no idea that Marina had fallen for the scammers« trap. On her day off, the day before she disappeared, she was visiting her mother and said not a word about the fraudsters.
“I saw that she was under some tension, constantly texting someone. But I thought maybe she was communicating with a man — who knows, adults do that. But the thought of scammers never crossed my mind,” says the deceased«s mother. “She lived with her son. He also saw that in the last two days, mom was texting someone.”
The next day, Marina told her 14-year-old son that she was going to work — and never returned home. Her relatives started searching for her that same evening.
“We went to the police, but they didn«t even take our statement: ‘She»ll come back when she«s had enough fun.’ We explained that this wasn»t like her, she«s not that kind of person,” recalls the deceased»s mother. “We told them what car she left in, they showed us surveillance camera footage of the car driving around the city. But it wasn«t her driving it anymore. We just didn»t know that the car had already been sold by then.”
She celebrated her 37th birthday in August, shortly before the incident occurred.
Now her mother knows (she was told by the Investigative Committee) that her daughter did not go to the hospital where she worked at all. She called a taxi and went out of town, and three days after she went missing, her body was found in a reservoir near the Bodrost recreation base. On the shore, they found her outer clothing and a message for her family.
“She left a farewell note, where she wrote how everything happened — how she was scammed. They called her supposedly from ‘Gosuslugi’ and said that access to her personal data had been opened, someone had gotten in. They said she needed to quickly sell all her property and put the money in a safe account. And she started selling everything, transferring money to other accounts. She sold everything she could. The only thing she didn«t sell was her apartment, as she only owned a share in it,” says her mother.
In the note, Marina explained why she didn«t tell her relatives or ask them for help.
“They intimidated her into not telling anyone anything, because [then] they would steal everything from everyone else too. When she realized she had been scammed, she found this way out. She was horrified by what she had done,” shares the deceased«s mother.
“I Don«t Believe She Took Her Own Life”
Marina had been working in a hospital since 2009. She became interested in medicine back in school, learning the basics in career guidance classes. After the eleventh grade, she entered a medical college and got a paramedic diploma, and later trained to be a lab technician.
She started her career in a children«s clinic, then worked in an AIDS laboratory. Literally a month and a half before the tragedy, she quit her job at the hospital in Asbest and got a job at the medical unit in the city of Zarechny.
“She was cheerful, loved her son very much. Kind, always ready to help. I don«t believe she took her own life,” says Daria, Marina»s stepsister.
Marina is shown with her pets, which included a Sphynx cat and two small dogs.
Marina was very versatile. She was divorced from her husband and lived alone with her son. She adored pets, had a Sphynx cat and two small dogs at home. In her free time from work, she practiced aikido, painted pictures, and knitted beautifully. The medic gave her creations to friends and sold them online.
It«s hard for her close ones to believe that she committed suicide.
“A young, beautiful woman. She loved life. She was active,” said a former colleague of the deceased.
The Investigative Committee declined to comment on the tragedy. Her relatives still don«t even know how much money Marina transferred to the scammers — they do not rule out that in addition to the amount from selling property and jewelry, she might have taken out a loan.
The editorial staff of E1.RU expresses condolences to the relatives, close ones, and colleagues of the deceased.
There are countless fraudulent schemes. Criminals study social media to manipulate children, pretend to be school psychologists or admissions committee representatives. In any case, their ultimate goal is to get hold of your personal data and money.
Everything known about modern fraudsters, we collect on a special page.
