Sakhalin resident detained for fraud with children's festival

The curator of the youth festival, who used his official position to receive funds, was detained in the Sakhalin Region. This was announced on April 22 by the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Irina Volk.

"The parents <...> transferred money to the conman for organizing a trip to the competition. However, shortly after receiving the funds, the attacker stopped responding to calls and messages from the victims. He never submitted an application for the festival, and did not collect the necessary documents. The amount of damage caused amounted to over 400 thousand rubles," the Wolf said in a Telegram channel message.

According to a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in February 2026, the chairman of a public organization supporting youth creativity invited the heads of Sakhalin creative schools to participate in an international festival competition. To do this, he contacted the staff of a company in Vladivostok that offers escort services at such events. It is specified that the person involved introduced himself as the curator of a group of children participating in the festival. Further, as noted by the Wolf, he collected the money and stopped contacting.

Volk added that the police, together with Rosgvardiya officers, detained the suspect and took him into custody. A criminal case was opened into the incident.

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On April 13, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Primorsky Territory reported that law enforcement officers had uncovered a fraudulent scheme for providing loans secured by citizens, due to which citizens were deprived of their housing rights, and one of the members of an organized criminal group was detained and imprisoned.