“You are under investigation!”: the police told how scammers involve schoolchildren in criminal schemes

In Minsk, fraudsters deceive minors, intimidate them with criminal liability and force them to transfer parental money. How criminals act and how to protect children from deception, said the head of the Frunze police Department Alexander Poluleh, writes sb.by.

In the Frunze district, two teenagers became victims of scams. In the first case, a 17-year-old man was called and introduced himself as an employee of a mobile operator. They offered to extend the contract. To do this, he was asked to name the code from the received SMS. After that, the victim was contacted by an alleged police officer, who stated that at the moment, due to the fact that the code was named, illegal financial transactions are being carried out on behalf of the young man.

- The teenager was told that he faces criminal liability. And the only way to “save” is to follow all the instructions, says Alexander Poluleh. The teenager is forced to declare the savings of his parents. To do this, he must transfer the money to a person who introduced himself as a collector. After that, the young man was involved in the following part of the scheme: he had to take the package from another teenager and deliver it to the specified coordinates.

The second participant was a 16-year-old student of the capital’s college. He also believed false employees who accused him of involvement in illegal financial transactions. Succumbing to pressure, the teenager handed the courier about 8000 rubles in equivalent. At the same time, both minors believed that they were participating in the procedure of declaring money, and did not understand that they were helping criminals.

- Parents should explain to children that codes from SMS cannot be communicated to outsiders, whoever they are. Such data can give fraudsters access to personal information and financial transactions. It is also important to convey to teenagers that real police officers and banks do not instruct citizens to carry other people’s money, take it from other people or participate in their “declaration”. Such requests are a serious reason to be wary, says Alexander Poluleh. It is necessary to agree with children: in case of any suspicious call, you should immediately contact your loved ones and check the information received, and not follow the instructions of strangers.