The key facts
- In Tikhvin, 50,000 rubles were stolen from a 92-year-old pensioner, with joke banknotes left in their place
- The suspect — a 43-year-old local resident with a prior criminal record — was detained on the day the police were contacted
- A case has been opened on theft causing significant damage to a citizen
Theft with money swapped for souvenir banknotes
In Tikhvin, Leningrad Region, a burglar stole 50,000 rubles from a 92-year-old pensioner, leaving joke souvenir banknotes — 'bank of pranks tickets' — in the box instead of the money. The regional MVD main directorate reported the suspect's detention, as relayed by the Saint Petersburg TV channel.
How events unfolded
The woman discovered the loss on November 3: an unknown person broke into her two-room apartment in the city's first microdistrict, made his way to the bedroom where the cash was kept, took it and left the joke banknotes. The pensioner contacted the police at around 10 a.m. Criminal investigation officers identified the suspected thief and detained him at 21:05 near building No. 2 on Borisova Street. The suspect turned out to be a 43-year-old resident of Tikhvin who had previously faced criminal charges. A criminal case has been opened on theft causing significant damage to a citizen, reports Life.ru.
A similar case in Vladivostok
This is not the first such incident: earlier Life.ru reported on a pensioner from Vladivostok whose savings of more than a million rubles were stolen by a fraudster, who swapped her savings for 'bank of pranks' tickets. The perpetrator posed as a healer and offered the 85-year-old woman a free health ritual. Unlike the Tikhvin case, this was not a break-in theft but a deception involving the victim herself.
