The FSB says a 34-year-old man from Volgograd was detained for helping phone scammers tied to Ukraine steal 300m rubles from Russian citizens. For payment businesses, the detail that matters is the infrastructure: activated SIM cards, registered e-wallets, and telecom equipment moving through the usual fraud plumbing.
According to the FSB, the man had been cooperating since 2023 with a representative of one of the armed forces units of Ukraine. His role was to activate Russian SIM cards for money and register electronic wallets on them, while also receiving, storing, administering, and forwarding specialized telecommunications equipment.
The FSB says the SIM cards he activated were used by Ukrainian special services for “fraudulent activities.” It also claims recordings of calls with victims were posted in an open Telegram channel, which is another reminder that payment-related fraud operations often sit on top of ordinary telecom and messaging tools rather than anything exotic.
Investigators say the group stole 300m rubles in total from Russian citizens, including family members of participants in the special military operation who were missing or captured. The case is being treated as especially large-scale fraud, alongside other charges tied to access to protected information from “Gosuslugi.”
Criminal cases have been opened under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code for treason, Article 207 Part 3 for false reports of terrorism, Article 272 Part 1 for unlawful access to protected information, and Article 159 Part 4 for fraud on an especially large scale. The man has been arrested.
The FSB says there have been 15 criminal cases under Article 207 Part 3 related to mass false bomb threats. For PSPs, acquirers, and banks, that combination of SIM activation, e-wallet registration, and telecom hardware is the part to watch: it is the kind of operational stack that supports downstream fraud, account abuse, and mule-style infrastructure.
