A resident of Balakhna lost more than 3 million rubles when buying a car online.

      September 30, 2025 19:40 Incidents — A resident of Balakhna lost more than 3 million rubles when buying a car online. Details were reported by the press service of the regional directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

      A 49-year-old Balakhna resident contacted the duty unit of the Balakhninsky Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia to report a fraud. According to the police, the man found an advertisement on one of the online platforms for the sale of a car from abroad at an attractive price. The seller moved the communication to a messenger, sent alleged car documents and an invoice for payment of a "customs fee." Following the instructions he received, the complainant transferred 97,000 rubles.

      Some time later the interlocutor said that the car was being held up at customs and persuaded him to transfer another 890,000 rubles. Not suspecting a scam, the man sent the specified amount in three transactions to an unknown account. After that the victim received a message that the car had supposedly cleared customs, but that in order to ship it to Russia he would need to pay the cost of the car — 1,850,000 rubles. The complainant also transferred this money and began to wait for the purchase documents.

      The next day the perpetrators claimed that the customs paperwork had been filled out incorrectly and insisted on an additional payment of 600,000 rubles. Soon the scammers demanded another 600,000 rubles, citing a "software glitch" during document processing. At that point the man realized he had become the victim of fraud and turned to the police. The total damage amounted to 3,437,000 rubles.

      A criminal case has been opened on signs of an offense under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud"). The sanction provides for punishment of up to 10 years' imprisonment. Police officers are currently conducting operational-search activities aimed at identifying the owners of the bank accounts used and identifying those involved.

      Earlier it was reported that telephone scammers forced a woman from Nizhny Novgorod to hand over 10 million rubles.

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