The Card Gnome: who involves children in criminal activities
School students are starting their summer holidays, during which many teenagers are looking for work. The police and the prosecutor's office are sounding the alarm — there are more and more cases when representatives of organized crime promise to give teenagers easy money. What criminal "side jobs" are offered to minors online and why children take them up — in the Izvestia article.
Trends in shadow employment
Teenagers in Russia are increasingly being involved in criminal schemes through ads for "easy money," and remote fraud, drop-in, illegal financial transactions, and drug trafficking remain the most common areas, according to law enforcement data.
A scheme with the registration of payment instruments and SIM cards for teenagers has become widespread (this often happens simultaneously). Gambling addicts are in a special risk group. Cybercriminals often look for drops from among the participants of illegal betting games and online casino regulars.
A few days ago, a schoolboy from Ulan-Ude was brought to criminal responsibility for trying to sell his SIM cards.
"In the messenger, a 16-year-old teenager received a message from an unknown person with an offer to earn money: he needed to purchase 200 SIM cards. According to the "employer", the numbers are needed for registration in betting shops in the interests of third parties. For one SIM card, the student was promised about 300 rubles, as well as bonuses on the sweepstakes," the MIA Media said in a statement.
The teenager purchased 18 SIM cards in the communication salon for 4 thousand rubles listed by the criminals and planned to send them by courier service. The deal was thwarted by the police. Now the guy faces responsibility for attempted participation in activities related to the transfer of subscriber numbers (Part 2 of art. 274.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
However, this cannot be compared with the serious terrorist crimes that teenagers commit for money. In the village of Krasnoobsk, Novosibirsk region, at the end of May, a 15-year-old local resident was detained, who burned down two police cars on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services.
According to the Russian Interior Ministry, from January to March of this year, 5,873 teenagers involved in crimes were identified, this figure is 9.3% more than the same indicator last year. They committed almost 6.9 thousand crimes during the same period, and teenagers committed 2,734 crimes as part of groups (17.2% more).
"The lion's share of such group crimes is related to drug trafficking," a law enforcement source explained.
Easy Money Exchange
According to Dmitry Vtorov, president of the Search for Missing Children Foundation, the range of teenage earnings today includes not only the delivery or posting of ads, semi-legal and openly criminal schemes are embedded in the same chain.
— Basically, these are various forms of droperism. This also includes stories when children are used as messengers: bring, take, hand over an item, make a bookmark," says Vtorov.
The teenager does not perceive the transfer of a bundle or the transfer of money through his card as a crime, the expert believes. For him, this is a quest, a task, quick money. The expert emphasizes that it is often not a matter of malicious intent, but of age.
How the brain deceives a child
Why do children take risks, even if their parents warned them? Dmitry Vtorov believes that one of the reasons is biological.
"Children are not aware of the consequences due to their age," the expert explains. — Their biology is not conducive to this. Even if you repeat "this is bad" a thousand times, a child can potentially commit a crime. For him, this is a delayed story: here and now, and then it will pass.
Vtorov points out that the teenager has not yet developed the prefrontal area of the brain, which is responsible for assessing long-term consequences. But the limbic system, the center of pleasure and risk, is actively working.
— They enjoy it. This is not education, this is neuroscience," summarizes the president of the foundation. — The child is not able to overcome this milestone on his own.
Where does the "dirty" money go?
The main myth is that teenagers spend their criminal earnings on alcohol or drugs. According to the analytical data of the Search for Missing Children Foundation, the motives are much more mundane. And this causes even more concern.
— The first is significant purchases that increase social status: a cool phone, like those of classmates, — says Dmitry Vtorov. — Secondly, teenagers try to "buy friendship" through money. Children believe that they can win favor if they feed everyone in a restaurant or treat high school students.
A teenager who does not know how to build social connections in any other way uses cash as a lever of pressure on his peers, says Vtorov.
"As a result, criminal income becomes not only a way to have fun, but also a tool for survival in the school hierarchy," says Vtorov.
Transformation into a monster
A social worker with 10 years of experience spoke to Izvestia on condition of anonymity about how teenagers are being turned into couriers and pawnbrokers. And about the tacit consent of parents, which is scarier than any coercion. According to the interlocutor, the problem does not begin with aggression or internal protest, but with the child's desire to prove his maturity through a wallet.
— Washing windows at intersections, putting up ads is a starting step, — explains the caseworker. — A teenager sees fast, real money, which parents either do not give, or give out strictly under the report. And this is where the psychology of false adulthood comes in.
The problem is that the starting step is instantly replaced by the next one. The child is offered to earn five times more — and hardly work. It's quite difficult to give up a stack of banknotes in front of you at the age of 14, says the teacher. The worst thing, according to the observations of a specialist, happens not on the street, but in the kitchen.
"When a child starts bringing home 30-40 thousand rubles a week at the age of 14-15, parents often find themselves trapped," he says. — On the one hand, there is crime. On the other hand, the child provides for himself and even helps the family.
The social worker cites cases from practice that do not fall into the protocols: mothers turn a blind eye to bruises (signs of a showdown between couriers), late returns, and strange calls at night. The reason is simple — food appears in the refrigerator.
"This is not malicious intent, this is desperation," the expert emphasizes. — But it is precisely this silence that makes the child completely dependent on the criminal "employer". He keeps him on two hooks: money and a threat to turn him over to the police. The family can't save you anymore, because she accepted the money.
Devaluation of education
"The numbers are disappointing," says the caseworker. — Out of 10 teenagers who started actively working in the field of semi–legal services, three or four return to school by September. The others say: "Why do I need this algebra if I earn like a mom in a week in a day?" The brain of a teenager who receives easy and big money is rebuilt: he stops evaluating the benefits of education after a year or five years. He needs 5,000 rubles tonight. They feel the taste of money, independence from their parents. But this independence is imaginary. In fact, they become slaves of the "employer."
According to the teacher, it is much more difficult to return such a child to his desk at the age of 15-16 than to prevent him from going into "free swimming" in the coming summer.
In March, Prosecutor General Alexander Gutsan reported a 10% increase in juvenile delinquency in the Russian Federation.
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