“Officers of the Criminal Investigation Administration of the MIA of Russia GA for Moscow together with traffic police inspectors of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate have detained a 26-year-old resident of the capital on suspicion of fraud,” said the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Irina Volk.

“It was established that the suspect, together with his accomplices, in the guise of workers of one of the metropolitan museums, made a loan agreement with a citizen secured with a pledge of expensive paintings by famous artists, confirming their authenticity by conclusions of art historians. After the transfer of funds, it turned out that the pictures and authenticity certificates for them were fakes. Material damage amounted to about 50 million rubles,” said Irina Volk.

On this fact, the Investigation unit of the IA Administration for the NAD of the MIA of Russia GA for Moscow instituted criminal proceedings on the grounds of the crime provided for in part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In the course of the operational-search actions, law enforcement officers detained one of the suspects.

With respect to the 26-year-old resident of Moscow, a preventive measure in the form of imprisonment was selected.