In Arkhangelsk, a court has convicted 18 individuals who were part of an organized scheme focused on fraud within the car insurance sector. The case was reported by the district attorney’s office, outlining a calculated operation that exploited insurance procedures for illicit gain.
According to investigators, two residents of Arkhangelsk initiated a criminal network that recruited trusted car owners to participate in the scheme. The group orchestrated deliberate damage to vehicles and filed insurance claims based on those incidents. They favored accidents occurring on poorly lit road sections and during nighttime hours, exploiting gaps in record-keeping and response times. After the supposed crashes, the defendants prepared and submitted insurance documentation to claim payout benefits. Some participants used their own vehicles, while others borrowed cars from acquaintances, all without initially revealing their true intentions to insurers.
Over the period from September 2016 to August 2019, the group is believed to have extracted more than 3 million rubles from insurance companies. In several cases, insurers detected inconsistencies and intercepted an additional 1.5 million rubles before disbursement. Based on each member’s role and degree of involvement, sentences ranged from two and a half to six years in general or strict correctional colonies. Several defendants were also subjected to corrective labor orders and fines reaching up to 300 thousand rubles.
In a separate incident, a former notable lawyer from Kaliningrad was involved in a violent altercation after stepping out of a vehicle, an episode that drew local attention and highlighted tensions within the broader regional landscape of crime and public safety.