A resident of Arzamas lost 5 million rubles after an April Fool's phone call from a scammer.

      On April 21, 2026, at 09:48, Incidents: A resident of Arzamas became a victim of fraudsters after believing a story about the hacking of his personal account on the state services portal. As a result, he transferred over 5 million rubles to the scammers. A 20-year-old resident of Kazan is involved in the case, according to the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod region.

      The man received a message about the alleged hacking of his account on "Gosuslugi." The notification included phone numbers to urgently contact for clarification.

      By calling one of them, the Arzamas resident spoke with a person who introduced himself as an employee of Rosfinmonitoring. He convinced him that the money was at risk and needed to be transferred to a representative of the agency for safekeeping.

      The next day, near his home on Nizhgorodskaya Street in Arzamas, the man handed over 5.4 million rubles to a stranger who acted as a guarantor for the safety of the funds. The money was packed in a black plastic bag.

      After some time, the victim tried to contact the agency representatives again, but the phones were turned off. Then he realized that he had fallen victim to a scam and reported it to the police.

      During operational activities, detectives established the involvement of a previously unconvicted 20-year-old resident of Kazan in the incident. The young man was interrogated as a suspect. He is currently subject to a measure of restraint in the form of a prohibition on certain actions.

      A criminal case of fraud has been initiated. The article's sanction provides for a punishment of up to 10 years of imprisonment.

      It was previously reported that the fraudsters convinced a 69-year-old resident of the Vachsky district to transfer more than 2.5 million rubles.

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