The Ministry of Internal Affairs has uncovered a fraudulent scheme with installments on marketplaces through online games

Police officers have detained a resident of Biysk and a native of Moscow, who are suspected of a series of thefts through game chats and online marketplaces. This was announced on February 4 by the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Irina Volk.

"It has been previously established that the organizer of the criminal scheme communicated with minors in the chat rooms of popular online games. Offering to purchase in—game currency and attributes, he persuaded me to dictate the code received on the phone," reads the message posted by Irina Volk on the Telegram channel.

The mobile phone numbers were registered to the victims' parents, the attacker arranged installments for them on marketplaces, and his accomplice from Moscow took the goods. They then resold the purchased items through online platforms, and appropriated the money for themselves.

It is noted that at the moment, 16 victims have contacted the police, for each of whom an installment payment was issued in the amount of 50 to 100 thousand rubles. A Muscovite woman was found to have some goods that she did not manage to sell.

Criminal cases have been initiated under part 3 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Theft"). The defendants were given a preventive measure in the form of a subscription not to leave and proper behavior. Restrictions have been placed on their bank accounts in order to compensate for the damage.

The investigation continues for other episodes and accomplices in illegal activities.

Logged out of the chat: fraud in foreign messengers has decreased significantly

What measures have affected this and what new tricks can be expected from intruders?

Moscow Prosecutor Maxim Zhuk said that the number of crimes in Moscow in 2025 decreased by almost 8%, while their detection rate increased. It was clarified that crimes involving the use of IT technologies decreased by 14%, and street crime decreased by almost 10%.

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