In Norilsk, a 53-year-old electric locomotive driver wanted to expose bank employees and lost 10 million rubles

In Norilsk, a 53-year-old electric locomotive driver fell for the classic tricks of swindlers.

As the regional prosecutor's office said, it all started with a message in the messenger: a stranger notified that the combination lock at the entrance had been replaced and asked to confirm the information with the code from the SMS. The man followed the instructions, and immediately after that a new message arrived: “Government Services” had been hacked.

The victim was asked to call to restore access. And then the classic scheme unfolded: a false specialist, then a “Roskomnadzor employee” who convinced of a data leak, and finally the “financial investigation department.” To be convincing, one of the callers even went on a video call: a man in uniform with an ID appeared in the frame and introduced himself as an interrogator.

“I was informed that State Services had issued a power of attorney on my behalf to some general who had become a traitor, and that I could now have big problems. I was really scared then and decided to strictly follow their instructions,” the victim explained.

Having learned about the upcoming sale of the apartment, the attackers decided to take possession of this money. The man was convinced that bank employees could be in league with the scammers, and convinced to conduct a “special operation” to expose them. The transaction for the sale of the apartment took place, and money was transferred to the victim’s account. The false employee immediately stated that these funds were government “tagged”, and they must be urgently removed and personally delivered to one of the cities, since there is no courier service in Norilsk.

Despite questions and warnings from real bank employees about scammers, the man received the money in his hands. The victim was sure: the conversations at the bank were an attempt by the criminal employees to prevent him from saving his funds. Following the instructions, he put the money in a bag and met the stranger at the appointed place. He said the password, the man answered – and a package with a multimillion-dollar sum was handed over in exchange for meaningless documents.

But even after this the scammers did not calm down. Returning home, the victim, under the guidance of a false specialist, continued to transfer funds to “safe accounts” – first 600 thousand rubles, then another 450 thousand. And only when the scammers demanded to pay a tax on opening an account, the man realized the truth. The total amount of damage amounted to 10.7 million rubles.

A criminal case has been opened for fraud.