"'Cash collection' over the phone nearly deprived an 86-year-old Kirov resident of all his savings."

      At first, a stranger who introduced herself as an employee of the telephone company called the man's landline. She offered to renew the service agreement and asked him to dictate his passport details. The pensioner suspected something was wrong, refused to provide the information, and ended the call.

      The next day the scammers changed tactics. Another woman who identified herself as a lawyer called the elderly Kirov resident. She said that due to unscrupulous bank employees there had been a leak of the pensioner's personal data, and that, in order to "expose the criminals," it was allegedly necessary to carry out a cash collection of his funds. Upon learning that the man had 380,000 rubles in cash, the caller stated that a cash collector would come for the money. Soon an unknown woman did indeed come to the pensioner's apartment, and he handed the cash to her in a paper bag.

      Over the following days the unknown callers continued to phone the elderly man and demand that he withdraw money from his bank account and also hand it over for "cash collection." Succumbing to the pressure, the pensioner withdrew another 350,000 rubles in cash, but refused to hand it over to the criminals until they returned the funds he had previously given them.

      After a direct refusal to return the money, the man finally realized that he had become the victim of fraud and went to the police. A criminal case has been opened on the fraud, and an investigation is underway.

      In the Kirov region the number of fraud victims is growing: losses have exceeded 1.2 billion rubles.

      A Kirov resident lost more than 4 million rubles after believing in a "premium SUV" from Korea.