“As a result of investigation and search measures in the Kaluga Region, detectives of the Criminal Investigation Administration of the Russian MIA Administration and the Russian MIA Division for the Ramenki District together with servicemen of the Special Rapid Response Unit of the Russian MIA Administration for the Kaluga Region apprehended four residents of the region aged from 28 to 42 suspected of frauds against pensioners,” said Russian MIA official representative Irina Volk.

Earlier, the Russian MIA Division for the Ramenki District had received a complaint from an 83-year old resident of Moscow. The elderly woman said that a malefactor had called on her home telephone number and presented himself as an officer of the law enforcement bodies. Then, he demanded cash from her for not imposing criminal liability on her son allegedly apprehended for a perpetrated offense.

The victim delivered one million rubles to the unknown man in the communal hall of her house on Michurinsky Prospect. Some time later, it turned out that her son had not committed any unlawful actions.

“The police established the detained men's involvement in a series of similar crimes. For a year, the malefactors, staying in the Kaluga Region, had been calling elderly residents of the capital. Posing as officers of the law enforcement bodies, they notified the pensioners of their relatives' detentions for various offenses and convinced them that it was possible to release their relatives from criminal liability if they delivered money to the fraudsters,” said Irina Volk.

The authorities initiated a criminal case based on essential elements of a crime stipulated by Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Three defendants were remanded in custody; the fourth one gave written undertaking not to leave.