The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has suppressed a network of nodes for communication of remote fraud from abroad

Employees of the Bureau of Special Technical Operations (BTSM) The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, together with colleagues from the Republic of Tatarstan and employees of the regional Directorate of the FSB of the Russian Federation, eliminated a network of illegal communication hubs. This was announced on Thursday, March 20, by the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Irina Volk.

"Its organizers provided scammers from Ukraine with the opportunity to deceive Russians," she said.

It is specified that the attackers made calls from abroad and lured access codes to "Public Services". After that, the scammers issued micro-loans in the names of Russians, and in order to return the borrowed funds, they demanded to transfer money to so-called secure accounts.

Volk reported that in January 2025, police officers found out that criminals' mobile phones were registered in Tatarstan. Thanks to this, the places of residence of the two men who arrived in the republic on the instructions of the curator were established.

They rented apartments, where they installed equipment for replacing the rooms with Russian ones. In addition, the attackers provided a replacement for the blocked SIM cards.

After that, law enforcement agencies managed to reach other members of the illegal network.

According to preliminary data, two Cheboksary residents organized illegal communication centers. The men not only recruited employees of the criminal organization based on ads in messengers, but also purchased and delivered equipment and SIM cards, instructed accomplices and paid them.

During the searches, 12 SIM banks, more than 2.7 thousand SIM cards, computer equipment and other items were seized.

Investigators are investigating a number of criminal cases on the grounds of a crime under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud").

The identities of the participants in the criminal business and the victims are being established, concluded Volk.

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On the eve of March 19, the dean of the HSE Faculty of Law, Professor Vadim Vinogradov, told on Wednesday how to act in the event of an unknown loan, probably issued by fraudsters. According to the expert, first of all it is necessary to contact the bank and the police immediately. If the investigation reveals that the loan was indeed taken by fraudsters, many banks release customers from their obligations, he noted.