An underground bank with a turnover of 250 million rubles was suppressed in St. Petersburg.

Operatives of the economic police, together with the regional FSB Department, stopped the activities of an organized group engaged in illegal banking activities. This was announced on March 6 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region in its Telegram channel.

"They conducted questionable transactions, coordinated the movement of funds through controlled legal entities, and provided financial services to companies seeking to minimize tax obligations," the report says.

The scheme was led by three residents of St. Petersburg, aged 48 to 55, who served as accountants for a shadow bank. For the period from 2022 to 2025, the amount of funds spent through this organization exceeded the mark of 250 million rubles, and the profit of the criminals amounted to approximately 38.5 million rubles.

The investigation revealed that the cost of the underground financiers' services was 15% of each transaction they carried out. Based on the results of the audit, a criminal case was initiated under part two of Article 172 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Illegal banking activities").

The investigative authorities conducted 21 searches, found and seized items and documentation relevant to the investigation. Two suspects were detained in accordance with article 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, while the third participant remains at large, but the issue of a preventive measure against her is being considered.

Other people's rules: how scammers speculate on the topic of changes in legislation

Malefactors invent new norms and use them to deceive Russians.

Earlier, on January 13, it was reported that Kuzbass police officers detained a fraudulent courier involved in the theft of over 6 million rubles from residents of several regions of Russia. He turned out to be an 18-year-old resident of the city of Tynda, Amur region.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.