A pensioner from Nizhny Novgorod gave scammers 396 thousand rubles, believing in compensation.

      April 4, 2026 15:08 Incidents In the Balakhna district, a 69-year-old man became a victim of telephone scammers and lost 396,600 rubles. This was reported by the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod region. The pensioner said that he received a call from a person who introduced himself as an investigator for particularly important cases. He claimed that a representative of a company selling medical products and dietary supplements, which the victim had previously used, had been detained. The caller convinced the pensioner that due to the large number of victims, he was allegedly entitled to compensation of 5 million rubles. To receive the "payment," the man was asked to first transfer money as a percentage of the future compensation. The pensioner believed it and sent money to the specified details through a post office. However, he never received the promised millions in return. A criminal case has been initiated under part 3 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Fraud committed on a large scale." Police officers are conducting operational search activities, and the investigation is ongoing. The police remind that messages about unexpected compensations and payments are a common scam scheme. Law enforcement does not require money transfers and does not inform by phone about such payments. Citizens are urged not to transfer funds to strangers, even if they claim to be employees of official agencies. In case of suspicious calls, it is recommended to end the conversation, contact relatives, or independently reach out to the organization on behalf of which the call was made. If you become a victim of scammers, it is necessary to immediately report this to the police at the numbers 02 or 102 from a mobile phone. It was previously reported that a 51-year-old resident of Balakhna lost 1.8 million rubles when buying a car online. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" has a Telegram channel. Subscribe to stay informed about major events, exclusive materials, and operational information. Copyright © 1999—2025 NIA "Nizhny Novgorod". When reprinting, a hyperlink to NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" is mandatory. This resource may contain materials 18+