An elderly resident in the Kalinsky region of St. Petersburg narrowly avoided becoming a scam statistic after a call that sounded official. The 84-year-old pensioner said a person who claimed to work for the Military Prosecutor’s Office contacted him and spoke with the authority of someone who knew how to manipulate fear. The caller asserted that an ongoing verification connected to the financing of Ukraine’s armed forces was underway and that immediate action was required. Under this pretext, the swindler urged the man to reveal every bit of cash hidden at home and to hand over 3 million rubles to a courier. The conversation carried a sense of urgency and consequence, designed to overwrite the victim’s hesitation and push him toward a rash decision without time to double-check the information.
The case progressed when video surveillance captured the would-be criminals in the act, with investigators confirming that a money exchange was arranged through a courier. Law enforcement is actively pursuing the individual who accepted the funds from the victim, and a criminal case has been initiated in connection with the incident. Authorities stress that genuine government offices would never demand cash by courier or require people to move money under pressure. The incident underscores how quickly a confident, official tone can persuade an elder to surrender substantial sums based on a fabricated legal threat.
Earlier reports described another incident involving a choreographer from the Mariinsky Theatre, who also fell prey to a similar ruse. In that case, the unknown caller claimed that the recipient could safeguard themselves by following a prescribed method to recover funds they were told to hand over. The victim complied, delivering money to a courier before realizing the deception and reporting the scheme to the police, which triggered a separate investigation into the fraudulent operation. The sequence of events demonstrates a recurring pattern in which impersonators exploit legitimate authority to provoke compliance and financial loss.
In yet another episode, a pensioner handed over 1 million rubles to the scammers under the impression that the payment would prevent the crime. The common thread across these cases remains clear: a caller adopts the face of an official, parcels a sense of urgency, and pressures victims into transferring money through a courier arrangement. The overall aim is to extract cash quickly before the person on the receiving end has time to verify the legitimacy of the request, leaving the victim financially exposed and emotionally distressed.
Experts and law enforcement advise staying calm when confronted with such calls, verifying the caller’s credentials through independent, official channels, and avoiding any cash transfer or disclosure of personal financial details. If a message seems dubious, the safest course is to end the conversation and contact the appropriate authorities using contact information sourced from official government websites or trusted numbers—not those provided within the call. By adopting a cautious approach and treating unsolicited financial instructions with skepticism, residents can significantly reduce the risk of falling for similar litigation- or law-enforcement-themed scams. The ongoing investigation in St. Petersburg continues to scrutinize CCTV evidence, interview witnesses, and pursue all potential leads to identify and apprehend those responsible for these manipulative schemes, safeguarding others from similar harm.