SCAMMERS STEAL MAN'S MONEY AND MAKE HIM SET FIRE TO BANK
A Russian man was recently arrested after being tricked into throwing a Molotov cocktail into a Moscow bank by scammers who had also just stolen his life savings.
Moscow police arrested a 48-year-old man from Ruza, a town near Moscow, for throwing a Molotov cocktail into a Sberbank bank. Bank employees were able to put out the flames before the firefighters arrived on the scene, and police quickly identified and detained the perpetrator. But this was far from an open and shut case; the more the suspect tried to explain, the crazier his story got, and by the end, investigators did not know whether to throw the book at the guy or just feel sorry for him.
The Russian man, whose name has not been disclosed to protect his privacy, told police that, a while back, he had been contacted by someone who introduced himself as a “representative of Russia’s largest bank” and began telling the victim that his account had been linked to suspicious activity.
This fake bank rep was somehow able to convince the account holder that criminals inside the bank were trying to steal money from his account and that the best way to prevent it from happening was to transfer the funds in safe accounts, protected by trustworthy bank employees.
Over a number of days, the unsuspecting man transferred all his savings—about 1 million rubles (over USD$20,000)--into several accounts provided by the fake Sberbank representative. Usually, it is at this stage that scammers cut all communication with their victims and disappear with their stolen money. However, in this case, the fraudsters decided to have a bit more fun with the poor man.
After confirming that the man’s money was now secure in their accounts, the scammers proceeded to convince their victim that the only way to expose the people who wanted to steal his money was to set fire to the Sberbank branch from which they operated. The scammers were even nice enough to provide the man with instructions on how to make his own Molotov cocktail.
Believe it or not, the man actually followed their instructions, and, after making sure that no clients were inside the bank branch, he opened the door and threw the Molotov cocktail inside. It is unclear how this was supposed to expose the dishonest bank employees, but that is the story the victim told investigators.
This whole story sounds unbelievable, but incredibly enough, the man’s story checked out, according to Russian news sources. The man will most likely be accused of property damage and possibly other crimes. Unfortunately, the chances are quite slim of recovering his life savings.
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