Police Arrest Two in 4-Million-Ruble Pensioner Fraud

On 4 July, a 71-year-old local resident contacted the police in Lipetsk. He reported that unknown individuals had fraudulently taken possession of his savings totaling about 4 million rubles (about $44,400 at current rates).

The pensioner received a call from someone posing as an employee of a utility company, who warned about an upcoming water supply shutdown. To receive free drinking water, the man was asked to dictate a code from an SMS, which he did.

Immediately after that, another person called the victim, claiming to be an FSB officer. He stated that the pensioner«s personal data had been stolen by fraudsters and that to protect his funds, he needed to contact a Central Bank specialist. The fake employees from various agencies intimidated the man with criminal liability and a search, and then demanded that he hand over all his money for verification.

The frightened pensioner handed over his savings—rubles and foreign currency—to a courier who arrived at his home. After that, he filed a statement with the police. The damage amounted to about 4 million rubles.

Operatives from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (UMVD) for the Lipetsk Region, together with colleagues from Police Department No. 3, identified and arrested two participants in the scheme. They turned out to be young people born in 2006 and 2007, who were located in Voronezh.

During interrogation, the detainees confessed that they had found illegal part-time work on a popular messaging app. Their task was to transfer the stolen money to the accounts of remote accomplices. For participating in the scam, each received a reward of about 60,000 rubles (about $667 at current rates).

A criminal case has been opened under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation—fraud on an especially large scale. The investigation is ongoing.