The key facts

  • The victim of phone scammers was an 18-year-old girl who was tricked out of 30 million rubles — her grandmother's savings
  • Two people were detained at an ATM: a 17-year-old college student previously declared missing and a 19-year-old student from St. Petersburg
  • The criminals managed to transfer 25 million rubles to their employers, 5 million was seized; a criminal case has been opened

Arrest at an ATM

In Kaliningrad, police detained accomplices of phone scammers right at an ATM as they were transferring the stolen money. This was reported by the Main Directorate of the Russian MVD for the region, cited by Gazeta.Ru. According to the agency, the fraudsters had earlier convinced an 18-year-old girl that she faced criminal charges for allegedly financing foreign armed formations, and forced her to hand over her grandmother's savings — 30 million rubles — to a courier for 'declaration'.

Who took the money

The courier who collected the money turned out to be a 17-year-old student at a local college. The day before, she had been declared missing: she had left home and stopped responding. Law enforcement tracked her route and caught her at an ATM together with a 19-year-old student from St. Petersburg who, according to police, had been sent by the scammers' 'handlers' to speed up the money transfers.

Outcome and scale of losses

The detainees were caught red-handed: by that point they had managed to send 25 million rubles to their employers, while another 5 million was seized. Both young people were placed in a detention facility, and a criminal case has been opened. For comparison: it was previously reported that a pensioner from Voronezh, frightened by 'security service officers', gave scammers more than 14 million rubles. The scheme in the Kaliningrad case is similar — intimidation with criminal prosecution and a demand to hand over money 'for verification' — but it stands out for the record sum for such reports and the fact that part of the funds was intercepted by the police.