Your card, our bat: criminals forced Russians to work with "drops"
Tula police officers, together with FSB officers, identified and detained members of the structural unit of the criminal group of telephone fraudsters. The detainees were responsible for working with citizens who issued cards for illegal transactions. Among the heads of the "department" was a former police officer. Details of the operation can be found in the Izvestia article.
The "shepherds" link
The exposure of the structural unit of the fraudulent group began with a criminal case under the article on unlawful access to computer information, initiated against an employee of one of the territorial divisions of a large Russian bank in Kaliningrad. According to the investigation, from April to November 2022, Alexandra K. She made changes to the authorized system of comprehensive services for private clients, thus opening up remote access to bank customer accounts to third parties. As the investigators found out, 25-year-old Vladislav B. pushed her to this, he was charged with incitement to commit a crime.
The security forces became interested in the activities of the alleged instigator and soon established that he was a member of one of the structural divisions of the criminal community associated with the massive deception of Russian citizens by telephone. The investigation considers him to be one of the so-called "operators" of fraudulent schemes. Several other alleged colleagues of Vladislav B. came to the attention of the police. These are residents of the Kaliningrad region, 22-year-old Artyom Yu., 21-year-old Ares S., 19-year-old Lev K., 25-year-old Musa A., as well as a native of Orsk, 25-year-old Alexander D. According to the investigation, all of them as part of an organized group were looking for socially unsettled people who provided their details for issuing bank cards. and they provided fraudsters with access to personal accounts of banking applications. They were also used to cash out funds in banks and to issue SIM cards.
Power unit
The so-called "drops" often try to exit the game or even appropriate the funds in their hands after the registration of banking instruments in the interests of intruders. In such cases, the criminals used force, which, according to investigators, was carried out under the guidance of 38-year-old Edik S. 22-year-old Gaspar S. and 22-year-old Maxim G.
The police found out that Edik S., who had previously served in law enforcement agencies, carried out Vladislav B.'s orders and threatened and beat the "drops" in order to get them to obey completely. Edik S. remained well-connected in law enforcement agencies, thanks to which he could warn his accomplices about the danger, in particular Artyom Yu. and Ares S. Edik S. was previously convicted of embezzlement, and his young subordinate Maxim G. for a number of serious violent crimes, including robberies and robberies.
The investigation found that the accomplices involved in the criminal case were indirectly involved in at least 30 episodes of fraud against residents of Moscow, Bashkiria, Altai, Buryatia, Krasnodar and Perm Territories and other regions of the country. These crimes were committed between January 2023 and September 2024. The investigation has not yet identified the names of the higher-level accomplices due to the members of the group's conspiracy and communication through anonymous communication channels. Nevertheless, the detectives have made progress in understanding the structure of the criminal business. Work is underway to deanonymize employees of the so-called "call department" and "operator department."
What are "drops" for?
— To one degree or another, the term "drop" includes people who receive a bundle of bank cards and go to cash them out, and those who register cards for themselves and then transfer them to intruders for a fee, and the so-called "fillers" who accept illegal payments to their card and then transfer The money is further away," explains Alexander Vurasko, Director of Development at the Solar AURA External Digital Threat Monitoring Center, Solar Group.
According to him, "drops" are necessary for conducting any illegal financial transactions on the Internet.
— For example, fraudsters need them to accept transfers from victims or owners of illegal online casinos. At the same time, many hundreds of "drops" are needed to implement large criminal schemes, so the demand for them in the criminal world is extremely high.
What is the threat to the cardholder
Over the past 10 years, amendments have been included in criminal legislation, as a result of which criminal liability has been introduced for "drops", which begins at the age of 14, the expert clarifies. At the same time, for the organizers of criminal schemes themselves, "drops" are expendable, Vurasco draws attention.
— After the arrest, "drop" cannot hand over his accomplices, as he simply does not know anything about them, at most — a couple of contacts in the messenger and other insignificant information. Therefore, illegal financial schemes easily survive the loss of some drops and are constantly looking for people to replace them.
Drop may also face criminal liability under articles on the sale of criminally acquired property and for the legalization (laundering) of illegally obtained money, said Alexey Gavrishev, lawyer and managing partner of AVG Legal.
— The first is punishable by a fine, the second by imprisonment for up to two years. As a rule, providing your card is considered only complicity, not execution, so the punishment is many times less. However, this does not exempt from liability, and the funds received in this way can be recovered through civil proceedings.
Konstantin Trapaidze, Chairman of the bar association "Your Legal Attorney", added that much depends on intent.
— If the person who transmits such information to fraudsters is aware of what this data will be used for and understands the existence of criminal intent, then responsibility will come for the fraud committed, but not as a direct perpetrator, but as an accomplice, in accordance with Part 5 of Article 33 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
According to this rule, an accomplice is recognized, among other things, as a person who assisted in the commission of a crime by giving advice, instructions, providing information, means or instruments of committing a crime, the lawyer specified.
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