In Yekaterinburg, a retiree handed over nearly 9 million rubles in foreign currency to scammers

      Today at 12:35 p.m. in Yekaterinburg, a pensioner handed over nearly 9 million rubles in foreign currency to telephone scammers, reports the Yekaterinburg media relations department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Tuesday.

      Photo: piqsels.com

      The day before, a woman born in 1952 contacted the police station №7 (Nародной Воли Street, 81) with a report. The pensioner stated that she had given scammers about 9 million rubles, the majority of which was in foreign currency—euros and dollars.

      According to the complainant, she was contacted by a “Security Service employee of the Central Bank of Russia,” who told her that suspicious operations involving money transfers to a neighboring country had been detected on her accounts, and therefore an investigation would be initiated against her.

      Subsequently, a fake FSB officer called her, claiming that unknown individuals had gained access to her personal data and attempted to hack her “Gosuslugi” account. The caller then stated that she needed to transfer all her savings to a “safe account.”

      The victim informed the stranger that she had savings at home and later handed over to a courier 34,985 euros (equivalent to 3.2 million rubles), 21,369 US dollars (1.7 million rubles), as well as 185,000 rubles. Additionally, she withdrew about 3.7 million rubles from various bank accounts, which she also transferred to the “runner.”

      After the incident, the victim told her husband everything. The total amount of damage caused to her was 8.8 million rubles. All of this was her family’s personal savings.

      The investigative unit of Police Department №7 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Yekaterinburg has initiated a criminal case under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (large-scale fraud).

      It was previously reported that an elderly resident of the capital handed over 5 kilograms of gold bars and savings totaling nearly 64 million rubles to scammers. The fraudsters initially threatened their victim over the phone, then sent a courier to deliver money and gold.