Voronezh Pensioner Loses Nearly 12 Million to Scammers

The Voronezh headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on a 70-year-old resident of the Liski district who, as she herself claims, became a victim of a mega-scam. According to the elderly woman, under the influence of scammers, she sold off her real estate, borrowed money from relatives and acquaintances — and in total gave the criminals an astronomical sum, almost 12 million rubles (approximately $133,300 at current rates).

She told police that the scammers started grooming her as early as 6 October 2025. A certain woman called her, introduced herself as a «Pension Fund employee» — saying that several months of her pension record were unaccounted for and she needed to come to the office. And, of course, asked for the «code from the SMS» — claiming it would be her queue number. The trap was sprung — the grandmother dictated the numbers from the message to the fraudsters, thereby handing them the keys to her personal data.

Immediately after, another madam called the old woman, informing her that she «had become a victim of scammers,» and would now be connected with a «Central Bank employee.» The fake «employee» frightened her with a classic scare story — «they are trying to take out a loan in your name and steal money!» To save her savings, as you might guess, they needed to be «transferred to safe accounts» — which the grandmother did. She withdrew all her 950 thousand rubles (about $10,600), on the scammers« instructions came to Voronezh — and transferred the money to them by tapping her phone to an ATM via a fake Central Bank app. She installed it from a link, again, from the fraudsters. However, this was only the beginning.

Soon, the woman was stunned by news of a «new loan» — now allegedly secured by her apartment. To «save the apartment,» it had to be sold — the loan would supposedly close automatically as the cadastral number would change, and the proceeds would go to the infamous «safe accounts.» Even such absurd reasoning did not deter the pensioner. On 11 November, she sold her apartment through classifieds websites for 6 million 50 thousand rubles (about $67,200). Part of the money was given to her in cash by the buyers, the rest was transferred to her bank account. And 1 million 595 thousand of it the grandmother immediately transferred to the scammers via an ATM, the remaining 4.4 million — via a courier. But calm down: this is still not the end.

On 22 December, the desperate pensioner together with her husband sold the car, a Renault Sandero Stepway, for half a million rubles (about $5,600) — and on the same day transferred it to the fraudsters via the «Unistream» system in a mobile phone sales office.

On 17 January, she sold her house in the village of Kopanishche, Liski district, for 1 million 300 thousand rubles (about $14,400), and on the 23rd — a garage for 250 thousand (since she no longer had a car). What the granny was «saving» this time is unknown — perhaps she herself no longer asked. The money went to the scammers. And finally.

The grandmother was told that now she «needed to pay a state duty of 1.2 million and insurance of 1.45 million.» She borrowed this money from relatives and acquaintances and from 26 to 29 January transferred it to the fraudsters in several tranches. And in total over 3.5 months — almost 12 million rubles (approximately $133,300). Only after this did the woman finally realize that something was wrong. Why her younger relatives didn«t suspect earlier, why the bank»s security service didn«t react — is a question.

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According to police, the old woman«s money went to scammers in a »foreign state,« so the prospects of recovering it are dim. What to take away from this story:

• Upon hearing phrases like «code from SMS,» «safe account,» «they are calling from the pension fund/prosecutor»s office/central bank/FSB/etc.,« »you need to renew your contract with the mobile operator/for the SIM card,« »change the intercom/gas meter/water meter« and other tales — end the conversation. These are red flags that give away scammers outright — remember this, finally;
• Do not open sent links and do not install applications of unknown origin;
• The Central Bank of Russia has only one app. It is called »CB Online« and is not intended for money transfers or any other financial operations. It looks like this:

In the genuine «CB Online» app, you can only do the following:

• Get online answers to questions about financial products and services;
• Check if a bank or insurance company has a license;
• Find out if a microfinance organization has the right to provide services;
• Learn about a financial organization«s services and find its nearest office on a map;
• Report an illegal financial organization or financial pyramid;
• Read news and useful articles about finance.

Over the past weekend of 31 January and 1 February, Voronezh residents, by the way, set a record. Eight people became victims of cyber scammers, and another had money stolen from their bank card — the regional MVD department calculated that in total people lost more than 28 million rubles (about $311,100 at current rates). About how scammers learn everything about us, and how they can be exposed with one simple question, read in the material Voronezh1.ru.