Currently, the employees of the Blagoveshchenskoye Municipal Administration under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia are diligently working to gather all the necessary information and determine the identities of the scammers. Two criminal cases have been initiated against them under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which addresses fraud on an especially large scale.
In September of last year, the victim, a 63-year-old woman, received a call from an unidentified individual claiming to be a financial expert specializing in cryptocurrency. This person promised her substantial profits, leading her to register on a specific website, open an investment account, and transfer over 4 million rubles. However, she soon discovered that she was unable to withdraw any funds.
Realizing she had been deceived, rather than contacting the police, the woman sought legal assistance by responding to an internet advertisement. A representative from a company contacted her, offering to help retrieve her stolen funds since a criminal case had already been opened against the scammers. However, to proceed with the case, additional funds were required.
Consequently, the victim took out loans from various banks and borrowed 15 million rubles from friends. Over a period of three months, she ended up transferring approximately 40 million rubles to the scammers. Consequently, her total losses amounted to 44 million rubles – 4 million to the cryptocurrency scammers and 40 million for “legal assistance.” It was only after this that she decided to contact the law enforcement agencies.
Recently, law enforcement in Khakassia apprehended seven individuals from the region under suspicion of being involved in cryptocurrency-related fraud.