Burnable sum: who is behind the arson attacks on ATMs in Russia
Representatives of the Ukrainian security services have stepped up the recruitment of Russians in the run-up to the New Year - it is they who, using social engineering methods, massively force victims to attack various infrastructure, sources in the security services told Izvestiya. Only in the past few days, about 20 people have been detained for setting fire to bank branches, post offices and shopping centers. The latest case occurred in St. Petersburg - a pensioner set fire to two ATMs. The banks confirmed to Izvestia the increased frequency of attacks and pointed to the increased security of branches. Most often, fraudsters steal money from people and then demand to set fire to some object, promising to return them, experts said.
Where arson attacks have been recorded
Mass activity of fraudsters forcing Russians to commit "unlawful and destabilizing" actions has been recorded in thelast few days, the department for organizing the fight against illegal use of information and communication technologies of the Russian Interior Ministry reported in its Telegram channel.
People who fell into the net of criminals threw firecrackers and Molotov cocktails in shopping centers, banks and post offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg. They also poured gasoline on and tried to set fire to police cars.
"Almost two dozen citizens succumbed to psychological manipulation and, driven by the desire to return the stolen funds, became participants in psychological operations of unfriendly countries. Of course, no one returned the stolen funds," the Interior Ministry pointed out.
Thus, law enforcement authorities detained the alleged perpetrator of the ATM arson in the branch of Sber in St. Petersburg - she turned out to be a 68-year-old pensioner. This was reported in the regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
The recording of the incident shows that in front of the ATMs stands a woman in a hood. In her hands she holds a bottle with an incendiary mixture, which she pours over the device and then sets it on fire. The ATM instantly catches fire. The woman filmed all these actions on video.
Figurants of arson were not only pensioners. In Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad region, the post office on a tip-off from the fraudsters' handlers set fire to a 31-year-old man. He was detained.
From December 16 to 20 in the Northern capital arson in public places occurred regularly, reports the Main Department of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region. For example, on December 16, a ninth-grader tried to set fire to the post office building in Tikhvin district. Two days later, a 76-year-old woman set fire to pyrotechnics in a financial institution on Lunacharsky Avenue. Then five teenagers from 14 to 16 years old ignited a wooden cabinet in the entrance on Leni Golikov Street.
On December 19, a student of the 10th grade tried to start a fire near the district administration building in Kingisepp district. The next day there, an 18-year-old resident of the city set fire to an ATM on the street. A young man in his 20s launched bottles with Molotov cocktails at the building of the Leningrad Region military recruitment office in the Admiralteysky district. And in Krasnogvardeysky district on Kommuna Street a 17-year-old girl set fire to a traffic police car. Criminal cases have been opened against the detainees.
"It is established that they all went to the crimes at the behest of unknown persons who contacted them by phone and in various messengers. Despite the fact that the detainees acted as so-called biodrones, all of them face serious criminal punishment," the Interior Ministry said.
Sber branch in St. Petersburg after arson attack
Facts of arson have also been recorded in Moscow, Moscow Region, Krasnoyarsk and Pskov.
How fraudsters work
Details about how fraudsters work, told "Izvestia" daughter of one of the arsonists. On December 21, a 70-year-old pensioner set fire to ATMs on Tverskaya Street, 34 and Lenin Avenue, 37 in the Kolpino district of St. Petersburg.
According to her, for several days the fraudsters were in touch with her mother. Last year, the elderly woman was in intensive care, so when she received a call from the fraudsters with an offer to undergo fluorography, she was not suspicious, and she dictated her SNILS number.
After that, the pensioner was told that the bank had some kind of power of attorney on her behalf to withdraw money, so they should be urgently transferred to a "safe account".
The woman together with her husband took a cab called by the fraudsters to the bank, where she tried to withdraw all the money from the account - about 650 thousand rubles. However, she was not given the entire amount there because the situation seemed suspicious to the bank staff.
But the fraudsters did not stop working with their victims, and a few days later the pensioner still managed to withdraw the remaining 500 thousand rubles from her account. In the end, she transferred the entire sum, allegedly to a "safe account", after which she was told that it was necessary to "cover up all traces of the transfer so that no one would notice anything".
- They spent three days telling my mom that they had to burn down the ATM to cover up the traces of the money transfer. Mom said: "I won't go to such a thing even under a firing squad," the Izvestia interlocutor explained.
Then the crooks didn't give up and started working on the woman's husband, who eventually became the arsonist.
- I don't know what they told him. He wouldn't do such a thing himself. He wouldn't hurt a fly," the woman emphasized.
Now the man, who had already fallen victim to fraudsters a few years ago and lost 2.5 million rubles, is detained. According to his daughter, he is charged under the article "Terrorism".
The scammers did not leave the family alone. They wrote to the youngest daughter of the detainee and promised to inform about the whereabouts of her father in exchange for a candid photo. While the man at that moment was already in the distance of the police.
Attackers purposefully want to create an impression of mass such arson, although in general such actions law enforcement officers have been recording for a long time, said the source of "Izvestia". According to him, the fraudsters have accumulated a sufficient number of recruits to try to destabilize the situation with their help.
- They want to sow chaos and fear," the source emphasized.
According to him, employees of the Ukrainian security services create entire networks of those who are ready to deceive others for money. Such employees are sought on websites and in job search groups.
- They immediately write to them with an offer to earn money, and before the holidays everyone needs money especially badly," he added.
What threatens performers
For several years now, there have been reports from one or another Russian region about arson attacks on military recruitment offices, relay and battery cabinets on railroads, and locomotives of rolling trains. But it is precisely after the actions or statements of the Russian leadership that mass outbursts begin, mostly in unusual scenarios. This was told to "Izvestia" by Alexandra Pozharskaya, an expert of the project of the People's Front "For the rights of borrowers" and the platform "Moshelovka".
- Employees of Ukrainian special services work with those who are promised European passports and money for committing arson and explosions," she explained. - But in call centers they choose already processed victims, who have already given almost everything or everything they had to the attackers. Such people are persuaded that burning an ATM or setting off fireworks in a bank branch will help catch the criminals and cancel all debts. That is, call centers are connected to the SSU IPSO as needed. This is a kind of weapon in hybrid warfare.
For example, after the start of the SSU, attackers called children and persuaded them, under the pretext of saving their parents and checking gas equipment, to give money and valuables to unknown people, open gas valves on kitchen stoves and put metal cutlery in microwaves.
Most often, scammers present themselves as employees of various organizations, promising large sums of money or threatening violence in case of refusal, added practicing lawyer Zara Gorbushina.
- Once contact is established, the victim is given detailed instructions on how to prepare and carry out an arson or explosion, including the choice of place, time and method of committing the crime. Sometimes scammers even provide the necessary materials," she said. - This approach to recruitment significantly complicates the work of law enforcement agencies, as victims often do not realize their role in the criminal scheme, but recognize only the execution of instructions, justifying their actions by threats or deception on the part of the organizers.
Recently, two scenarios have emerged by which fraudsters mislead citizens, said Igor Ivlev, head of the criminal defense practice at the Parole Institute law firm.
- In the first case, they steal money from people and then ask them to set fire to an institution, promising to return the money. In the second case, people are persuaded that they are participating in an operation conducted by law enforcement agencies and their arson is part of a plan to catch criminals," he explained.
Russian law does not exempt from responsibility those who committed a crime under the influence of third parties, even in the presence of significant psychological pressure, the lawyer said.
-In the best case, the perpetrator faces a charge of hooliganism with the use of objects as weapons - a punishment of up to seven years, " said Zara Gorbushina. - However, depending on the scale of the damage, the number of victims and other aggravating circumstances, the punishment can be much stricter, up to and including charges of terrorism.
A terrorism case is opened if a person's actions are aimed at intimidating the population and destabilizing the activities of government agencies, recalled lawyer Aleksey Gavrishev.
- The punishment can reach up to 20 years in prison. In some cases, the detainees have already been prosecuted under this article," he emphasized.
The criminals who manipulated the arsonists, as a rule, operate from false phone numbers and are most often not in Russia. Therefore, it is often impossible to bring them to justice, lawyers emphasize.
How banks reacted
Sberbank also confirmed to Izvestia that phone scammers became more active before the New Year. People lose their money, and then, trying to get it back, attack social and administrative buildings, including bank offices. According to Sber's data, the number of such incidents under the influence of social engineering has recently increased by 30%. However, the trend started earlier.
About five years ago, phone scammers focused on stealing money, Stanislav Kuznetsov, Sber's deputy chairman, said earlier in an interview with Izvestia. Then they started forcing people to take out loans, and then the attackers started trying to steal real estate. On a similar trick, in particular, in the summer of 2024 got the singer Larissa Dolina.
According to the most current data of the Central Bank, only in the third quarter of 2024, fraudsters made 350 thousand transactions without the consent of customers, and the amount of theft amounted to 9.3 billion rubles. This is twice as much as the average for the previous year - that is, despite all the measures taken by the authorities, the volume of thefts is increasing. At the same time, the share of funds reimbursed to the victims is not high - about 12%.
Recently, according to Stanislav Kuznetsov, a new trend has really started to develop: by giving people hope about the return of stolen money, they are forced to commit illegal acts. On the orders of callers, they set fire to authorities, military recruitment centers, bank offices and ATMs. "Izvestia" sent an inquiry to the largest financial organizations about the damage caused to them by illegal actions on the part of people controlled by the attackers.
Sberbank reported that they have strengthened security measures at their facilities against the background of increasing cases of arson under the control of fraudsters.
The problem of telephone frauds on the direct line on December 19 was also touched upon by Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to him, more than 250 billion rubles have been stolen from Russian citizens by phone scammers from the territory of Ukraine alone. The President emphasized: Ukraine has elevated this method of fraud to the status of state policy and conducts such operations under the control of special services.
During the direct line, the president was also asked whether Russia could put fraudulent call centers in Ukraine on the list of priority targets for strikes. However, the president replied that "we will not spend ammunition on these targets," since the Defense Ministry's targets are military facilities, the defense-industrial complex and decision-making centers.
Alexandra Pozharskaya also noted that during the direct line the President gave advice on how to defend against this threat.
- We need to be vigilant and stop communicating at the first suspicious words," the expert reminded. - And it is also important to be attentive to your loved ones not only in such difficult moments.
It is especially important to pay attention to your elderly and young relatives, constantly talk to them, explain and remind them about this threat, she added.
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