The Irkutsk Region police uncovered an online fraud scheme in which criminals sold nonexistent spare parts on a major Russian language forum. They won buyers trust, took prepayments of up to 50 percent, and disappeared after getting the money. According to investigators, the damage may total hundreds of thousands of rubles, and the number of victims may reach dozens, including residents of CIS countries.
As the police found out, the fraudsters arranged sales of spare parts on the forum of a large specialized Russian-language website. They posted a nonexistent lot and selected a corresponding photo for it. Then, during the correspondence, the criminals won the buyers’ trust and agreed on an advance payment, which could amount to up to 50% of the price of the goods. As soon as the money was credited to their bank account, the correspondence ended, and the “virtual sellers” disappeared without a trace.According to investigators, in this criminal way they may have deceived not just a dozen visitors to the site, including residents of CIS countries. The amount of damage caused may run into hundreds of thousands of rubles.
At present, the police are identifying the victims. A set of operational-search measures is being carried out to identify other persons involved in committing similar scams. During the searches conducted, information storage devices and bank cards were seized from the suspects.
A criminal case has been opened in connection with this fact under the article “Fraud committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy,” which provides for up to five years of imprisonment.
Based on materials from the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Irkutsk Region