Nizhny Novgorod police helped shut down a network of "black" subscriber terminals

      October 17, 2025 11:49 Incidents

      Law enforcement officers dismantled a criminal network of traffic gateway terminals in 11 regions of the Russian Federation that were used for remote frauds and the dissemination of knowingly false information about terrorist acts, the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod Region reported.

      The operation was conducted jointly by officers of the Bureau of Special Technical Measures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the FSB of Russia, and regional units from the Chuvash Republic, Arkhangelsk, Ivanovo, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Tver and Tula regions. As a result, the activities of a criminal structure that had set up a network of subscriber terminals intended to route telephone traffic were neutralized.

      According to preliminary data, this communications infrastructure covered territory in 11 regions of the country. The terminals were operated under the instructions of anonymous coordinators located outside Russia. Through messaging apps they offered citizens jobs and side gigs ostensibly related to technical support for small businesses.

      People who responded to the offers received devices that could operate both with SIM cards and without their physical presence. Such equipment allowed perpetrators abroad to make calls within Russia using numbers of domestic operators while remaining anonymous. This scheme was used, in particular, for telephone fraud and the dissemination of knowingly false messages about terrorist attacks.

      To conceal their activities, participants in the criminal scheme placed SIM boxes and SIM banks in different regions. This made it harder to determine the locations of the people servicing the equipment and responsible for supplying the SIM cards.

      During searches, law enforcement officers seized 13 pieces of network equipment, more than 10,000 SIM cards, and other items of evidentiary value. It is noted that some of the seized SIM cards appear as evidence in 30 criminal cases opened under Articles 159 (“Fraud”) and 207 (“Knowingly False Report of an Act of Terrorism”) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

      Following the operations, 11 people allegedly linked to unlawful activity were taken to police stations.

      According to Irina Volk, the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, consideration is being given to additionally qualifying these persons’ actions under Article 274.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — “Illegal use of a subscriber traffic gateway terminal or a virtual telephone exchange.” A check is also being carried out to verify the legality of the registration of the recovered SIM cards.

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