Voronezh Engineer Scammed Out of 2 Million Rubles
Just over the past weekend of January 17–18, 11 residents of Voronezh Oblast reported to the police that they had become victims of fraud, and another had money stolen from his bank card. The total damage exceeded five million rubles (approx. $62,500). Investigators were particularly struck by the story of an engineer from Liski: the 36-year-old man gave more than two million rubles to scammers, and they staged such a multi-step performance with him — it could be published as a separate preventive manual for particularly gullible citizens. The drama unfolded over almost a month, with the fraudsters inventing tales more fantastic than the last, but the impressionable engineer suspected nothing. He took out one loan after another, borrowed from acquaintances — and sent all the money to unknown recipients, convinced that he was «saving» it. We publish the full chronicle of the grand deception — learn from others« mistakes.
December 22, 2025 — an unknown person called the Liski resident on his mobile, claiming to be a «tax service employee». The fraudster said that the man had undeclared income, and to resolve the issue, he needed to provide a code for scheduling an appointment. As you understand, this code is the key that criminals use to access the personal data of potential victims.
December 23 — the guy was called by an «FSB (Federal Security Service) officer» with a classic script — saying that a case of terrorism financing had been opened against him. And to close it, he needed to contact a «State Services employee» at such-and-such number. At that number, the Liski resident was transferred to a «Central Bank employee», who moved the entire conversation to a messenger app. There, the already thoroughly frightened engineer was intimidated into compliance, being told that some fraudsters were trying to take out a loan in his name, but to thwart them, he needed to take out a loan himself — and transfer the money to «safe accounts». Despite the fact that such stories are now told by every television and iron in the country with the call «don»t believe!« — the guy believed.
December 24 — he went to a bank branch in Borisoglebsk, where his «assistants» had directed him — and from Liski, it«s over 200 kilometers by highway. He took out a loan for 513,000 rubles (approx. $6,400) and a credit card with a limit of 80,000 rubles (approx. $1,000) in his name.
December 26 — already in Voronezh (100 kilometers from Liski), he withdrew 422,200 rubles (approx. $5,300) in cash from an ATM, and transferred the remaining 177,800 rubles (approx. $2,200) to his account, as his «well-wishers» had ordered. Meanwhile, in the messenger, they sent another task — to open an account in another bank, this time in Bobrov (50 kilometers from Liski).
December 28 — the engineer went to Bobrov, did everything, transferred the money to the new account, and — as per instructions — sent 175,000 rubles (approx. $2,200) to an unknown man.
December 29 — the guy, on the fraudsters« instructions, took out another loan — this time, remotely — for 251,940 rubles (approx. $3,100).
January 2 — they didn«t let up even on New Year»s — he sent another tranche, for 200,000 rubles (approx. $2,500), on the fraudsters« command. Confident that he was »saving« the money, of course. And the fraudsters began to tighten the screws.
— The criminals told the Liski resident that to recover all the funds, he needed to obtain a special visa certificate by making a deposit of half a million rubles (approx. $6,300), — said the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Voronezh Oblast. — Over the next few days, the engineer borrowed these 500,000 rubles from acquaintances and transferred the money to various accounts specified by the fraudsters. In total, the scammers forced him to send even more — 645,000 rubles (approx. $8,100).
If your head isn«t spinning yet from the flight of criminal imagination, there»s a bit left — just 610,000 rubles (approx. $7,600). These money the fraudsters extracted in two installments: 300,000 rubles (approx. $3,800) — supposedly to close some «negative balance», the rest — posing as treasurers «for payment of fiscal tax». Between the transfers reported to the police, there were clearly others, because in total the engineer lost 2,033,000 rubles (approx. $25,400), more than a third of which were from loans. As they write on the internet, you know who to send it to.
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«Fiscal tax», by the way, does not exist. But one of the functions of taxes is fiscal, that is, to replenish the treasury. Stunning a potential victim with a meaningless set of smart words is a classic fraudster technique. As is driving the engineer to different banks — to cover their tracks and avoid detection by anti-fraud radars. A criminal case for fraud on an especially large scale has been initiated — if the fraudsters who deceived the engineer from Liski are found, they could face up to 10 years in prison. And the five main signs by which fraudsters can be identified are in the material by Voronezh1.ru.
