From a cache to a crypto wallet: law enforcement officers of the Minsk region stopped the activities of a group of cyber criminals

In the Minsk region in 2026, law enforcement agencies stopped the activities of a large criminal group that stole the savings of citizens using social engineering methods. They managed to steal more than 450,000 dollars. This was told to journalists on October 8 by the deputy head of the Internal Affairs Department of the Minsk Regional Executive Committee – the head of the criminal police Sergey Yakubel, the correspondent of the Minsk-Novosti agency reports.

The photo is illustrative in nature

Since the beginning of 2026, a sharp increase in the number of cybercrimes has been recorded in the district. Scammers put strong psychological pressure on citizens, forcing them to give away family savings and take large bank loans. An unusual scheme was used to transfer money: the victims carried cash to remote locations and left in hiding.

- As places most susceptible to the organization of these bookmarks, sparsely populated villages near forests, as well as stopping points where there is no developed structure of video surveillance and it is impossible to catch the eye of possible witnesses, said S. Yakubel.

Law enforcement officers conducted a large-scale analytical work, comparing digital traces on the Internet, the geography of forest bookmarks and data of persons previously in the field of view of the police. This allowed to fully reveal the cunning plan of the criminals and establish the entire chain.

The stolen funds were taken from the caches by couriers, many of whom worked as taxi drivers to disguise routes. Money was delivered to the last link literally in minutes.

- From the moment of withdrawal of these funds from the hiding places to delivery to the last link took from 10 to 30 minutes, — said the head of the Department of digital development of the preliminary investigation of the UCK in the Minsk region Maxim Tsupa. Up to seven such raids could be carried out per day. For one delivery, the courier received from 100 to 300 dollars, that is, within one day they could earn up to 2 thousand dollars.

Mixed cash was accumulated by a separate person – a “crypto exchanger”, who acted as a shadow bank. He deliberately avoided legal platforms and transferred money into cryptocurrency through the shadow segment of the Internet. At the same time, all participants in the scheme perfectly understood the criminal origin of finance.

- Each of the participants in this scheme, ranging from the courier who took money directly at the stop, and ending with the operator of cryptocurrency operations, all without exception persons had information that the money was obtained by criminal means, said S. Yakubel. There is no question of any error or ignorance of the situation.

The scheme of influence on citizens was worked out to the smallest detail. One of the victims was a young teacher from the regional center, who lost more than 41 thousand dollars.

- It all began with a call in the messenger on behalf of “Belposhta” with a message about an unreceived letter from the tax office, where the man was found out the SMS code, — said the head of the Department for combating cybercrime of the Ministry of regional Executive Committee Pavel Strok. Then the false police officers joined, intimidated the citizen with a criminal case for “aiding and treason” because of the alleged transfer to the wanted person. The victim issued loans, withdrew savings and three times brought cash to the Minsk district, burying packages of money at stops and under trees.

An incident helped stop the endless deception: returning from another “trench” by taxi, the man heard a radio warning about the methods of telephone scammers and immediately dialed the number 102.

19 members of the group were arrested. Seven were detained and charged. More than 450,000 dollars in equivalent, 8 cars, including premium ones for 70 thousand dollars, were seized, and access to a crypto wallet with 63 thousand dollars was obtained, Tsupa said. According to the investigation, the defendants account for at least 100 episodes of fraud throughout the country, and they themselves face from 7 to 12 years in prison.

The speakers recalled the main safety rules for citizens.

“Law enforcement agencies will never call citizens on messengers,” said S. Yakubel. It will always be a regular telephone service if there is a need to call a citizen to the internal affairs bodies. Well, believe me for sure, law enforcement officers will never require a citizen to bury his money in the ground.