Zoom Police Scam Costs Blogger's Daughter 7 Million

Famous blogger from Yekaterinburg Ksenia Teleshova encountered scammers who frightened her 15-year-old daughter. As she told E1.RU, the fraudsters extorted money from her for several days.

According to Ksenia, the scammers convinced her daughter that she had allegedly received a sum from Ukraine, and now faced criminal liability, and her family would be deprived of parental rights. To be convincing, the perpetrators video-called the girl on Zoom and introduced themselves as police officers, wearing what appeared to be work uniforms.

«Our daughter was very scared. And we only found out about it two days later,» Ksenia said.

Under pressure, the girl transferred money to the scammers. Exactly how much the family lost—the blogger did not specify. But according to her, after this, the fraudsters did not stop and continued their manipulations.

«These people are blackmailing me and saying they will post nude photos of my child everywhere, generated by a neural network,» Ksenia said on her social media.

She noted that the police are already investigating the situation.

«Now we need to stop the gang and warn children about the scheme. They know how to manipulate and »brainwash.« Our daughter is smart, educated, but she seems brainwashed. I would just like to warn you to talk to your children today, tell them that if someone calls on video, sends codes, under no circumstances should they respond and quickly inform their parents,» the blogger concluded.

The E1.RU editorial board contacted the police press service for a comment on the situation. We will publish the response as soon as we receive it.

Updated:

The fraudsters convinced the child that with the code that came in an SMS, the criminals hacked her «Gosuslugi» (the Russian government services portal), gained access to loans, and were transferring money to unfriendly countries. As explained by the police, allegedly to prove her innocence in this matter, she needed to gather the cash available at home and hand it over to a courier for declaration. The next day, the schoolgirl opened her parents« safe and handed over the 7 million rubles (about $77,800 at current rates) stored in it to the arriving young man.

A criminal case has been initiated on the fact of theft of the applicant»s funds under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code, «Fraud on an especially large scale.»

«The police once again ask citizens to have appropriate conversations with underage children. A child should know that communication with strangers by phone or via the internet can be dangerous. And also that any suspicious situation must be reported to relatives,» the police press service reminded.

Read an important guide on what to do if your loved one falls under the influence of scammers. All about fraudsters« schemes we collect in a separate topic.

We also published ten phrases that give away fraudsters. Upon hearing them, you should immediately hang up.