They carried a dead man: how they earn money from the documents of deceased Russians
Fraudsters are increasingly using the data of deceased people for criminal manipulation. The passport of the deceased, his SIM card or pension payments can "live" for months, or even years after the death of the owner. And the longer this process is not controlled, the more likely the scammers are to enrich themselves. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Ticket to the "second life"
The use of documents of deceased citizens is becoming a significant part of the shadow business serving various criminal groups, such as drug dealers, telephone scammers, and black crypto exchanges.
It should be recalled that in early September, the Butyrsky Court of Moscow convicted members of an organized criminal community that specialized in the remote theft of funds from the accounts of Russian citizens. The criminals' activities were stopped by FSB operatives together with colleagues from the Russian Interior Ministry.
"It has been established that employees of federal cellular operators, financial and credit institutions and other persons who were part of the OPS carried out illegal activities on the territory of Moscow, the Moscow and Saratov regions, the Krasnodar Territory, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. The attackers, having access to the databases of telecom operators, information arrays of banking institutions and government agencies, received up-to-date information about the date of death of subscribers as soon as possible and reissued their SIM cards. This scheme allowed criminals to gain access to the mobile applications of former clients and withdraw more than 50 million rubles to controlled accounts," the FSB Central Control Center said in a statement.
According to the court verdict, the accomplices were sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 6 to 14 years, as well as fines from 250 thousand to 400 thousand rubles.
Another investigation into the "dead souls" ended a few days ago. A group of fraudsters from the Chelyabinsk region carried out illegal real estate transactions, forging documents on behalf of deceased citizens. The accomplices (four women and three men) were caught illegally obtaining mortgage loans from six organizations (they executed transactions for antisocial persons using forged documents). However, the police also found a story about "reviving a dead man" in the "track record".
"During the implementation of another criminal plan, the accomplices forged documents when registering ownership of a share in an apartment in the city of Yemanzhelinsk. The defendants submitted to the court a forged purchase and sale agreement and a receipt on behalf of the deceased owner. The fictitiousness of the documents was confirmed by the results of a handwriting examination, which established that the deceased had nothing to do with the documents: they were compiled and signed by the head of an organized group," the press service of the regional police department said. The materials have been sent to the court.
According to a police source, forgery of wills, general powers of attorney and other documents that make it possible to take over the deceased's real estate is very common.
— In addition, cases of the use of deceased passports on electronic platforms and ad sites have become more frequent — fraudsters use a person's data as confirmation of their intentions when receiving an advance payment. People believe, transfer money, then it turns out that the passport belongs to the deceased.
Passports of deceased co-users are widely used in drug addicts.
"Sometimes drug addicts provide the passport of a recently deceased comrade to drug stores in order to get a so—called master treasure (for small wholesale), it does not always end well for drug addicts - shops punish such tricks, hire people to beat up cheaters," said a police source.
Also, according to a police source, the criminal world is trying to use the documents of deceased citizens to adapt to new legal realities.
— After the introduction of criminal liability for providing their data to third parties with subsequent billing and SIM cards, criminals are trying to use dead Russians as drops, - says the source.
They keep their finger on the pulse
The main tool of fraudsters is a passport. After receiving information about a person's death, criminals forge certificates and use the data to access bank accounts, receive inheritance or social benefits. Sometimes scammers present themselves as relatives, presenting false documents in order to obtain compensation or property.
Social services and district police officers are called upon to monitor suspicious situations, for example, if a person does not appear at their place of residence for a long time. A weak point in the control system is that in some cases, years may pass between the actual death and the official recognition of a person as deceased. If information about the death is not received on time, documents and accounts remain vulnerable.
The existing system for registering the death of a citizen begins to work from the moment the death record is compiled at the registry office, this information goes to the Registry Office. Based on them, the Ministry of Internal Affairs cancels the passport, the SFR and the FIU stop payments. The Federal Tax Service and other agencies receive data through interdepartmental exchange. Banks and telecom operators learn either from official inquiries, or from relatives or a notary, or by "signals" (refunds, stop facts on the passport). In practice, it is the delay in delivering the status to all participants that creates the vulnerability.
The moment of substitution
The time window between the actual death and its registration at the registry office, and the actual updating of data in all departmental and commercial circuits, is a space for criminals to maneuver, lawyer Alexey Gavrishev, managing partner of AVG Legal, told Izvestia.
"Attackers are able to use someone else's documents to issue a SIM or eSIM during this period to anonymize calls, register in messengers and marketplaces; to conduct operations with electronic wallets and banking products, microloans," says the lawyer.
These time frames are also used to receive social (pensions, benefits) and one-time payments; attempts to remotely access services (personal accounts, acquiring) before account blocking.
Earthly punishment
A police source stressed that there were cases when scammers restored the inactive eSIM of the deceased and stole a large sum from the accounts. Fraudsters who receive a password to a person's "Public Services" immediately gain access to the eSIM.
— This is done with the help of a real passport of the deceased, if it has not been withdrawn or canceled (it works until the data "flies" through the interdepartmental contour); with the help of sellers of "pre-registered" SIM cards (violation of subscriber identification, liability from the dealer or operator); through unscrupulous employees of communication salons (entering someone else's passport data) or under M2M enterprise pools (machine-to-machine communication technology that allows devices to exchange data and interact with each other without human intervention. — Editor's note), — Gavrishev explained.
He recalled that eSIM registration follows the same rules as SIM cards: without correct identification, the issue is illegal.
According to Gavrishev, insurance and social benefits (pensions, allowances, targeted subsidies) are most often issued to the deceased, which is classified by law enforcement officers under Article 159.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as payment fraud. They also receive banking products for the deceased, and various operations are carried out on their behalf. Later, such manipulations are qualified under the article on general fraudulent schemes (art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) or in the field of electronic means of payment. The lawyer also stressed that in addition to responsibility for embezzlement, the perpetrator is usually involved in the production and use of a deliberately forged document or theft of a document (art. 325, 327 OF THE Criminal Code OF THE Russian Federation).
The police don't have to catch a person red-handed to bring them in for this kind of act.
— The totality is sufficient: video recordings in sales offices, activation logs, eSIM profile logs, payments and transfers, billing, account movements, acts of handwriting/ digital expertise, testimony of employees/ relatives, — says Gavrishev. — The testimony of one person without objective evidence is weak evidence, as a general rule, a verifiable array is required.
Protection from the dead
According to Gavrishev's lawyer, relatives should immediately hand over the deceased's passport, notify the bank and the operator, block cards and powers of attorney, request an extract from the credit history bureau and put a "stop loan" in the BKI.
— Businesses should also take a number of preventive measures to avoid possible problems: strict identification when issuing SIM/eSIM, prohibition of "pre-registered" numbers, control of employees' access to KYC systems (from the English. know your customer (client) — "know your customer", mandatory verification of personal data of the client. — Editor's note), responding to suspicious patterns (mass activation "for one passport"). The schemes are suppressed by routine technical expertise, correct identification and timely notifications.
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