A Russian regretted responding to his boss's message, as it led to him losing his car and nearly 10 million rubles.

Sixty-year-old Sergey* from Angarsk didn't expect to receive a message from his former boss, as he had retired. He realized it was indeed his ex-superior by the familiar face in the messenger photo. Sergey decided not to ignore the SMS, a choice he would soon regret.

“Law enforcement is checking all current and former employees of our company. They may contact you for clarification on some information,” his former boss wrote anxiously.

A call soon followed. When Sergey picked up the phone, a person on the other end introduced themselves as a security service employee and advised him to cooperate fully with the “investigation.” They claimed that they and their colleagues had conducted an inquiry and discovered suspicious transfers from the company where Sergey used to work to a banned organization in Russia.

“Do you want problems with the law?” the stranger threatened.

The story was so convincing that Sergey completely trusted the impersonator and began to follow all their instructions. The pensioner withdrew all his money for a “reserve” transfer. He sent every penny of his lifetime savings, totaling nearly 6 million rubles, to the accounts specified by the fraudster. Then, the gullible Siberian sold his car for 2.5 million, borrowed another 500 thousand from relatives, and took out a loan for 800 thousand rubles. This continued for several weeks until all of the victim's money ended up in the hands of the scammers.

By the way, this was not the first time Sergey fell for such a trick. Previously, he had tried to find additional income and lost 300 thousand rubles. This time, he handed over nearly 10 million and set a record for 2025 for the largest stolen amount.

MEANWHILE

Since the beginning of 2025, more than 100 residents of the Irkutsk region have reported fraud to law enforcement agencies. In total, they transferred over 75 million rubles to criminals.

BEWARE!

Police in the Angara region remind you: law enforcement officers do not require you to carry out any financial transactions with your money. If you receive such calls, immediately end the conversation and hang up. Stay vigilant – scammers can call you at any moment, and you may not realize how you became a victim of fraud.

*name changed.