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- Numbered background: Victims of phone scams have been waiting for cases to be filed for months
Numbered background: Victims of phone scams have been waiting for cases to be filed for months
A Muscovite woman who was forced by phone scammers to take out three loans and transfer money to them waited five months for a case to be initiated. Another victim of the intruders was able to get an investigation into apartment and car scams, but has been awaiting investigative actions since the fall of 2024 on loan episodes, Izvestia learned. Lawyers confirm that procedural procedures in such cases often hang for several months, as the practice of prompt investigation has not yet been formed. Experts note that due to the difficulty of finding suspects, such cases often remain unsolved. About how to get a case initiated and what are the chances of victims of telephone scams to achieve justice — in the material of Izvestia.
How scammers force you to transfer money to them
It took five months for the Muscovite Elena (name changed) to initiate a case of telephone fraud, as a result of which she lost 3 million rubles. The girl contacted the police in 2024, after being processed for a week by people who introduced themselves as FSB officers.
It all started with a Telegram message from the alleged former head of Elena. This account looked completely identical to the real profile. The message warned her that the company was conducting an unscheduled inspection. When the girl asked why they were checking on her, even though she had not worked for this company for six months, the "head" did not hesitate to say that they were checking on several former employees. Allegedly, it is necessary to "identify the causes of information leaks from the data archive" and "study the possible influence of foreign intelligence agencies on officials with access to archived data."
The scammers also sent the girl a copy of the verification order signed by an alleged FSB major. And then she was contacted by a man posing as this major, but he was already scaring her according to the standard script for phone scammers — due to a data leak, the attackers gained access to Elena's personal data and are trying to take a loan in her name. The fraudster said that they intended to transfer the funds to Ukraine, and warned that the Rosfinmonitoring inspector would then join the conversation. The "inspector" informed that Elena "needs to create a duplicate loan in order to block the possibility of fraudsters using funds." And to do this, you need to go to the bank and apply for a loan.
During the week, the girl tried to take out loans from seven banks, while the attackers constantly guided her — they were in touch by phone and Telegram, called a taxi to the banks, advised her on what to do so that the loan would not be refused, and supported her when there were refusals. Elena was refused in four banks, three were granted, but in one of them, when trying to withdraw funds, the operation was blocked. As a result, the girl transferred the funds of two loans to the fraudsters, each of which amounted to 1.5 million rubles.
Elena began to suspect something was wrong only five days later, when the attackers stopped communicating for the first time. Then the girl tried to contact her past and current employers — the "employees" said they had sent them the documents.
"There were no documents for the job, and even then I guessed everything," she told Izvestia.
But the misadventures did not end there. Elena and her lawyers have been trying for several months to get the case initiated or officially dismissed so that they can challenge it. After several appeals, the case was opened, but Elena was not contacted for several months.
How many cases are waiting to be filed
The lawyers interviewed by Izvestia state that it is not an isolated case when a criminal case has to be waited for a very long time. Often, even if a case is initiated, there is still, as a rule, no result.
According to the lawyer with whom the Izvestia correspondent spoke, sometimes cases are initiated against an unidentified person. After two or four months, he is suspended for the search for the accused, who does not exist.
The most difficult thing here is that fraudsters come up with more and more new schemes, said Anna Minenkova, lawyer, head of the criminal practice at Sokolov, Trusov and Partners Law Firm.
— We are faced with a similar case. The scammers, acting according to the classic scheme, deceived the victim, forcing her to sell her car and apartment in Moscow," she said. — They also convinced her to apply for loans and tried to force her to cash out the funds from the cards, but by pure chance they failed to withdraw all the money.
The crime was committed in August-September 2024, a criminal case was soon initiated only on the fact of apartment fraud, but the start of the case on the episode with the car was achieved only six months later. At the same time, the case of attempted fraud in obtaining loans has not been initiated.
— Moreover, due to red tape, already during the investigation of the case, the car was in a car dealership and was sold to a conscientious teacher from the Rostov region, — said the expert. — She bought the car on credit, and only more than a month after the initiation of the case, they decided to put the car on the wanted list, despite the daily requests and statements of the victim. There is only one answer to all the questions — there are a lot of cases, there are not enough resources for all of them, wait until five to six months have passed, and the queue will reach you.
Why are cases not initiated for a long time
Complaints from citizens about refusals to initiate criminal cases, refusals to accept applications, delays in the investigation, frequent changes of the investigator in the case, and lack of results are not uncommon, an expert from the Popular Front told Izvestia. Analytics", project manager "For Borrowers' Rights", coordinator of the Moshelovka platform Evgeniya Lazareva.
— Only a tenth of the applicants or their representatives have no complaints against law enforcement agencies. Moreover, half of those who have no complaints are really satisfied with the results of their interaction with the police, while the rest simply did not expect the criminals to be caught and the money returned, but they have an active civic position and consider it their duty to report the crime," she said.
The main reason for the suspension of such cases is the remote nature of the crimes, Evgenia Lazareva noted. The vast majority of fraud victims contact the police at the moment when the money has already been cashed out or withdrawn through drops and crypto exchanges to other countries.
— As you know, this is mainly Ukraine. Therefore, there is no talk of international cooperation between law enforcement agencies and special services that are also investigating such cases," the expert said. — In addition, often under the influence of intruders or for other reasons, victims themselves destroy all traces and clues necessary for the investigation and the formation of an evidence base.
Evgenia Lazareva recalled that the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has repeatedly acknowledged the shortage of personnel, technical and technological inadequacy of the means and tools necessary for such investigations. So, in March 2025, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev announced at the department's board that 172,000 vacancies had been opened in the police, and this number increased by 33,000 over the year.
Investigating such cases is quite difficult, as fraudsters often operate outside the Russian Federation using virtual numbers and front persons who have bank accounts, said Alexandra Katkova, partner at NOVATOR Legal Group.
Malefactors think over scenarios in such a way as to steal money as quickly as possible and leave as few traces as possible, Evgeniya Lazareva noted.
— Criminals use the latest technologies and tools, not disdaining the developments of hackers and permanent "residents" of the darknet. That's why the villains are faster," she said. — But law enforcement officers are required to strictly follow the Code of Criminal Procedure, act in accordance with their authority, request sanctions for a number of necessary actions, and comply with the protocol. And this, of course, in cases of fraud does not contribute to the prompt detection of crimes.
The expert also noted that it is impossible to deny the unwillingness of individual employees to deal with obvious problems.
— Citizens often, without thinking about those very powers, turn to the district police officers with allegations of fraud, rather than submitting it to the departments. In such situations, a policeman, whose task is to protect law and order in the assigned territory, may refuse to accept the application," she explained. — Just because he doesn't know how to conduct such investigations. He does not always recommend that the applicant contact the department.
However, not every applicant will want to bring the matter at least to registration of the application and receipt of a coupon.
— But we insist that it is necessary and very important to report a crime. This will help shape law enforcement practice, enable cyber police to combine different cases into one proceeding, find criminals faster, and provide legislative and executive authorities with an understanding of how to change the regulatory framework and what tools are needed to prevent and prevent fraud," said Evgenia Lazareva.
Fraud in this form has been around for quite a long time, said Vladislav Bezushkevich, a lawyer at Criminal Defense Firm. About 15 years ago, people received messages from alleged relatives asking for help after accidents. And in their practice, according to her, lawyers encounter cases when such cases are not investigated.
"They will accept a crime report from you, but they are unlikely to carry out investigative actions," she believes. — This is due to the fact that the number of victims is growing and the authorities do not have time to respond to all appeals, and in some cases it is technically impossible.
Evgenia Lazareva reminded that if the department refuses to accept an application, does not conduct pre—investigation checks, does not unreasonably refuse to initiate or delay a criminal case, a citizen has the right to complain to the supervisory authority - the prosecutor's office.
In response to a request from Izvestia, the Interior Ministry explained that the grounds for refusing to initiate or terminate a case may be the absence of a crime event, the absence of corpus delicti in the act, the expiration of the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution, the death of a suspect or accused, as well as the absence of a victim's statement.
Of course, there are positive examples when authorities promptly respond to a statement or fraudsters can be identified, said Vladislav Gubko, a lawyer at Tomashevskaya and Partners law firm.
So, in February 2024, in Chuvashia, an unknown person called a pensioner on his mobile and, introducing himself as a bank employee, said that a loan had been issued for him. The fraudster then convinced the elderly man to transfer the money to a bank account "to save it."
"The police opened a criminal case under Part 3 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud committed on a large scale") and identified the fraudster as an 18—year—old resident of Novosibirsk," he said. — Not so long ago, a courier working for telephone fraudsters was detained in the Moscow region. According to the detainee, he found a job through a messenger. The supervisors informed him of the addresses where the money should be collected and forwarded to the specified accounts, keeping the commission for themselves.
And in the Moscow Region, the Pushkin City Court is considering a criminal case of fraud against cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin: the suspect, Yan Maksimov, entered into a pre-trial agreement with the investigation and pleaded guilty. In 2023, criminals forced Mikhail Tyurin to transfer his accumulated funds to a supposedly secure account, then take out two loans, and transfer this money to them, too. Maximov's task was to find drops — people who would agree to issue bank cards in their name. He also provided them with SIM cards, which they indicated when opening bank accounts.
How often do scammers call?
More than half of Russians receive calls from scammers at least once a week, while one in ten encounters them daily, according to a study by PRO32 (Izvestia has it).
Most often, people drop a call from a suspicious number or block it. 7% report to law enforcement agencies or to the support of a service whose employees the scammers tried to impersonate, and another 5% try to expose the intruders by asking counter-questions or recording a conversation. One in ten admitted that they do nothing at all when they receive a suspicious call. Only 3% of Russians feel completely protected from phone fraud, and 24% are partially confident in their own safety, while 73% of respondents said they feel vulnerable.
Fraudsters' methods are becoming more sophisticated: artificial intelligence is learning to fake voices and visual images, and substitution is becoming more difficult to track, PRO32 CEO Igor Mandik added.
— Multi—way combinations and intimidation with "sharp" topics are used, - he said. — The survey results show a high level of anxiety, especially among the older age groups.
Special departments have now been set up to investigate remote fraud, and there is an instruction from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia that such cases should be initiated within three days after receiving a report of a crime, said Evgenia Privalova, a lawyer at Lobutev and Partners.
Most often, the authorities face the problem of determining the circle of suspects, said Vladislav Gubko, a lawyer at the Tomashevskaya and Partners law firm.
"As a result, the majority of citizens are less likely to file a complaint in case of attempted fraud against them, and in vain," he stressed. — Each new appeal provides additional information for the authorities: they analyze anonymized accounts, transactions, the use of phones and SIM cards, build a social communication map of fraudsters, which will eventually help to find the criminal.
The reason for the insufficient detection of telephone frauds sometimes lies in the issue of determining the jurisdiction of such crimes, added Vladimir Voronin, managing partner of Altavista Law Firm, lawyer.
— For example, the victim is located in Moscow, and the call was made by a fraudster from the territory of the Chelyabinsk region, — he said. — In this case, the capital region should be considered the place of the crime, since the crime ended here.
As a result, Moscow police officers are unable to work in another region, and local police officers may treat incoming orders formally, since the crime was not registered on their territory.
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