Official: Siberian citizen transfers 43 mln rbl to phone scammers

NOVOSIBIRSK, Apr 5 (PRIME) -- A Novosibirsk Region citizen has transferred 43 million rubles to accounts of phone scammers, Vitaly Chernov, head of the department of supervision over criminal and investigative activities at the regional prosecutors’ office, said on Wednesday.

The scale of crime using IT in the region and its neighboring Siberian areas is growing from 9,500 in 2022 to 3,251in January–March, Chernov said.

“Here is a good example of the scale of the problem. It so happened that over the past 24 hours, 23 crimes were registered on the territory of the Novosibirsk Region. We have seen more, but it is not the number that strikes but the amount of theft. Citizens lost 57 million rubles during 24 hours through various ways. At that, one citizen remitted 43 million rubles from his accounts falling prey to a scammer’s persuasion,” he said.

The scammer called the victim via Telegram under the guise of a central bank employee. He said he had uncovered suspicious transactions that could be used to transfer the person’s money to accounts of extremist organizations.

(79.3563 rubles – U.S. $1)

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