A cardiologist based in Omsk became part of a fraudulent scheme after receiving a message attributed to the hospital’s chief physician. The incident prompted a report from the Regional Ministry of Internal Affairs Department, which began formal scrutiny of the case.
An unidentified individual, presenting themselves as a doctor, urged the authorities to contact him as part of the effort to combat fraud. This person claimed to represent legitimate medical channels and stressed the need for cooperation with law enforcement in the fight against deception and criminal activity.
Soon after, an entity identifying itself as an officer of the Federal Security Service (FSB) reached out. The caller alleged that certain unknown persons were attempting to secure a loan for a woman and suggested that the safest course was to funnel funds into a “secure account” controlled by the criminals.
Following those instructions, the woman proceeded to obtain loans from several banks within a short period and transferred the funds to accounts provided by the attackers through ATM withdrawals. The sequence of payments and transfers was described as a coordinated effort to shield the scammers and keep the money moving away from the victims.
It did not take long for the cardiologist to realize he had been misled. Within a few days of engaging with the pretenders, he found himself out of 9.5 million rubles. The scale of the loss highlighted how swiftly sophisticated fraud schemes can operate, especially when they exploit trust in medical authorities and crisis-response figures.
Law enforcement agencies opened a criminal case to pursue the suspects and recover the funds. The investigation aims to identify the perpetrators, trace the illicit money flows, and bring charges aligned with applicable regional and federal statutes on fraud and financial crimes.
In a separate development, a Belarusian resident reported a loss of about three million rubles following an online inquiry. The report underscores the global dimension of such scams, where perpetrators exploit digital footprints and cross-border communications to widen their reach and complicate enforcement actions.