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- On someone else's tip: scammers have become more active in involving teenagers in crimes
On someone else's tip: scammers have become more active in involving teenagers in crimes
In recent weeks, cases of people committing crimes under the influence of fraudsters have become more frequent in Russia. In just a few days in mid-March, a number of high-profile events occurred: a 15—year-old teenager blew up an ATM in Moscow, a young girl tried to hammer a pensioner, thinking she was helping the security services, and a 20-year-old football player killed a woman - the scammers convinced him to get into the victim's apartment and take the money from the safe. In addition, the attackers force teenagers to "kidnap" themselves and extort a ransom from their parents. This surge is related to the evolution of telephone fraud, lawyers say: criminals, controlling the behavior of victims, involve them in increasingly complex schemes.
Murder at the behest of the curators
Several high-profile crimes committed by teenagers at the behest of fraudsters have occurred in recent days in Russia. So, on March 19, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against a 15-year-old Moscow schoolboy who set fire to and blew up an ATM. He acted "following the telephone instructions of his supervisors," the Moscow prosecutor's office said. Now he faces punishment for hooliganism and intentional destruction or damage to property.
On March 17, a criminal case was opened in the capital against a 20-year-old girl who tried to kill a pensioner, believing that she was acting as a "freelance law enforcement officer to expose foreign agents."
"The curators gave her the task to eliminate a local resident who is allegedly a foreign agent,— the Investigative Committee said in a statement. Armed with pepper spray, a hammer and masking tape, the girl came to the front door of the apartment on Akademika Anokhina Street and rang the bell. The door was opened by the owner, born in 1967, and at that moment the suspect sprayed pepper spray in her direction and swung a hammer."
The attacker was neutralized by the pensioner's relatives, who were in the apartment at the time.
— A girl came to my mother, she filled her eyes and face with pepper spray. Mom got a chemical burn. Her father and brother ran out to her screams. The girl, apparently, did not expect that there were men in the house, she wanted to run away, her brother and father stopped her," Taisiya, the daughter of the injured pensioner, told Izvestia.
When law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, one of them called the number from the attacker's phone from the call history. There were scammers on the other end of the line.
— The girl believed that she would be taken away from the police. She understood what she had done, but she thought she was playing a spy," the victim's daughter added.
Now the Muscovite is in jail, she does not admit her guilt.
On March 16, the court arrested 20-year-old football player Daniil Sekach, who is accused of murdering a businesswoman and robbery. According to investigators, the young man fell under the influence of fraudsters — they sent him to one of the deceived victims for money. He was let into the apartment by the 16-year-old daughter of a woman who was also deceived by the scammers.
When the girl's mother suddenly returned home, the Cleaver stabbed her to death, and then took money and jewelry from the safe in the apartment.
During the interrogation, the accused said that he stayed at the murder scene for 12 hours and kept the victim's daughter in the apartment at the request of fraudsters. It later became clear that two more accomplices were involved in the criminal case — Kirill, a 17-year-old student (he played on the same football team with a Cleaver) and Sofia Nikolskaya, a 22-year-old tutor. The girl handed Daniel a Bulgarian. Then she took the money stolen from the opened safe and handed it to Kirill. And he took them to the scammers. According to the Izvestia source, Daniil Sekach was looking for a part-time job on the Internet and had previously performed similar tasks.
What is the reason for the increase in crimes?
All telephone scammers operate according to approximately the same scheme, Evgeny Pankov, head of the first control and investigative department of the GSU TFR in Moscow, told Izvestia. They tell people that they will be severely punished for some fictitious crime and offer to "cooperate with the investigation" — to act as supposedly freelance agents in the interests of the state. But in fact, they are being given criminal tasks, the investigator noted.
"Before that, the intent of the scammers was to steal, now they are also killing," he said. — Responsibility for such crimes is the strictest. Not knowing or imagining that a person is helping government agencies does not absolve them of responsibility in any way.
The increase in crimes committed at the behest of "curators" is associated with the evolution of telephone fraud — if earlier the goal was only to receive money, now the attackers are trying to control the victim's behavior for a long time in order to engage him with more complex schemes, says Anton Pivovarov, a lawyer at the Moscow Sed Lex Bar Association.
"We are talking about remote psychological influence, in which a person begins to act in the interests of criminals without realizing the consequences," he told Izvestia. — Minors are involved through a combination of pressure and manipulation. Legends about "problems with the law", "threats to parents", "leakage of personal data" or "participation in a special operation" are often used.
Teenagers are intimidated by criminal liability, convinced that they are already "guilty", and the only way to "fix the situation" is to follow instructions: transfer money, commit illegal acts, or stage their own abduction.
The latter scenario also became common in the criminal chronicles. For example, in early March in the Moscow region, malefactors convinced two teenagers to stage a kidnapping and demand a ransom from their relatives. A 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old teenager left their home and went to Tula under the influence of scammers. And unknown people sent a five-second video to the girl's mother with her daughter "with her hands behind her back, mascara running down her face," and a demand for 5 million rubles in ransom, the central office of the Russian Interior Ministry near Moscow was told. The woman contacted the police with a wanted report and the teenagers were soon found.
According to Anton Pivovarov, scammers are increasingly using an individual approach: they analyze the social networks of potential victims, their environment, and their communication style, and only after that they select a scenario for influencing them.
— For example, attackers can blackmail with compromising information — threaten to publish personal data, recordings or images that could harm the victim's reputation. This can be either real information or fabricated information," said Veronika Polyakova, a criminal defense lawyer and managing partner of the Business Legal Group Bar Association.
Teenagers are usually involved in criminal schemes through social networks, instant messengers and online games. Young people are promised that they will be able to earn "easy money" by doing almost nothing.
— This, for example, can be droppery. Scammers ask teenagers to take parcels or envelopes with money from citizens, and then cash them out and transfer them to the "employer". This sounds very attractive to teenagers who want to gain financial independence. And instead of a school desk, teenagers find themselves in the dock with the risk of receiving a real punishment in the form of imprisonment," Veronika Polyakova noted.
Another type of fraudulent scheme is receiving a "secret assignment" from a supervisor, which, if not completed, will allegedly have negative consequences for the victim. The teenager believes in this legend and blows up ATM machines, sets fire to the school, said the lawyer.
Children from dysfunctional, poor families are very often involved in criminal activities, where violence may be present and parental care may be lacking, criminal defense lawyer Tatiana Pashkevich told Izvestia. And criminal liability in Russia under a number of serious articles begins at the age of 14.
How to protect children from fraud
Teenagers are more likely to believe intruders due to a lack of life experience, high emotional involvement and a tendency to trust authority, especially if it appears to be a representative of law enforcement agencies, Anton Pivovarov added.
In addition, teenagers spend more time in the digital environment and become involved in communication faster.
The basic rule should be explained to children: no "law enforcement officers" give instructions over the phone and do not require them to perform actions related to money or illegal acts, Anton Pivovarov said.
— Any pressure and urgency is a sign of fraud. It is necessary to immediately interrupt the conversation, check the information through official channels and involve parents or lawyers," he said.
Classical methods of fraud are now widely known, so manipulation is moving to a new level — a person is forced to commit a criminally punishable act in order to consolidate control over him, says clinical psychologist, specialist of the psychological platform Alter Elena Kandybina.
— Scammers often use psychological pressure methods, for example, they speak quickly and aggressively, and demand the same quick responses. They provide the victim with her personal data, which increases stress and creates a "tunnel perception" when it is impossible to critically treat words. Isolation under the pretext of "secrecy of the assignment" or under the threat of spreading compromising information leaves a person alone with the situation and increases stress," she explained.
To protect a teenager from the influence of scammers, parents need to build a trusting relationship with their child, advises psychologist Elena Kandybina.
— A teenager wants thrills, novelty and activity, and instead we offer him a school that has already filled his teeth. If a child has unusual and interesting hobbies, then criminals will be much less likely to involve him in their networks," she said. It can be extreme sports or volunteer help.
By maintaining trusting contact with the child, parents will be able to learn in advance about what may cause concern and take the necessary actions for his safety, the expert noted.
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