Bulgakov would not have dared. A 73-year-old Moscow pensioner handed over 13.3 million rubles in cash to a 22-year-old boy on the sidewalk. She thought she was saving her account from the hacked state. But the money went straight to a crypto exchanger in Moscow City, and the old lady's complaint brought the whole store down.
Five employees have been sleeping in detention since October 26. Thus, the portal of fake agents to the world of cryptocurrencies in Russia has lost one of its service doors.
The key points of this article:
Scammers posing as officials convinced a 70-year-old that her Gosuslugi account had been hacked
The 22-year-old courier dropped off the notes at a crypto exchange shop in Moscow’s business district
Police found more than 5 million rubles in cash, counting machines and a document shredder there
Four men from the Volgograd region were arrested on site, a fifth at the airport
Two other couriers aged 18 and 19 still carried 3 million rubles on them
Gosuslugi hacked and 13 million rubles returned to the sidewalk
You know the scenario if you read our pages. Men on the phone take an administrative tone and create an emergency. Here, the fake agents announce to a 73-year-old retiree that her Gosuslugi account, the Russian public services portal where taxes, pensions and identity documents pass, has just been hacked. You have to “check” your money. In other words, take it out of the bank and entrust it to someone you trust.
She obeys. She withdraws 13.3 million rubles, some 150,000 euros during this Wednesday, and hands them over to a courier in the street. There is no diplomatic bag or secret meeting, just a young man with a bag on a Moscow sidewalk.
And this is where the story changes. The retiree filed a complaint, the Moscow police traced the courier and arrested him. The boy is 22 years old. He immediately admits where the notes went, according to the account given by Bits.media based on the police press release: in a crypto-exchanger, one of those pharmacies that transform cash into USDT without asking any questions.
Search in Moscow City at crime changers
The investigators arrive at Mantoulinskaya Street and Presnenskaya Embankment, a stone's throw from the glass towers of Moscow City. Let us judge, the inventory looks like a thriller: bundles of documents, banknote counters, a paper shredder which was undoubtedly running at full speed, and more than 5 million rubles in cash in the drawers.
The police picked up four men aged 20 to 30 on the spot. All come from the Volgograd region, almost 1,000 kilometers from Moscow. They catch up with a fifth, 26 years old, at the airport. He was preparing to leave the capital. The judge then sends the five to pre-trial detention. The courier gets away with a ban on leaving the territory.
The raid does not stop at money changers. The police also arrested two other couriers, a 19-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man. They were carrying more than 3 million rubles in their bags. These barely legal mules carry a life’s savings. Then others turn them into digital tokens within minutes.
Moscow crypto-exchangers in the sights of the police
The term “exchanger” deserves a word. In Russia, bitcoin is authorized for purchase but prohibited for payment. Yet hundreds of small shops buy and sell stablecoins for cash, often from the towers of Moscow City. They are used by importers who circumvent sanctions. They are also, and above all, used by call centers which rob retirees.
The authorities know it. At the beginning of August, the FSB had already rounded up around twenty employees of exchangers in the same district, accused of laundering money from telephone scams. The large sanctioned platforms are not left out. Garantex was thus resurrected under the name Grinex after the seizure of its domains in 2025.
The modus operandi, I named the trio fake agent, courier and crypto counter, therefore copies the fake advisor scam which is rampant in France. Only the currency changes, ruble here and euro here, and at the end of the pipe we find the same Tether.
