Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
The fraudsters pretended to be UFC heavyweight Aleksei Oleinik and managed to steal 50,000 rubles from the director of the Big Moscow Circus.
A group of scammers, including one who passed himself off as UFC heavyweight Aleksei Oleinik, have been detained by law enforcement officers in Russia.
Three men were detained for using a variety of messaging apps including WhatsApp and Telegram to scam unsuspecting victims during the coronavirus pandemic. Among the victims are Russia’s famed circus owner Edgard Zapashny.
According to Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk, the fraudsters would contact famous people, masquerade as one of their friends, before requesting them to urgently transfer funds for medical emergencies.
“As a result of operational search measures, the Moscow Criminal Investigation Officers located the suspects and detained three men in the cities of St. Petersburg and Vladikavkaz,” Volk said, according to TASS. “There is reason to believe that the defendants may be involved in the commission of more than 30 such illegal acts. The preliminary damages exceed 4.5 million rubles ($60,000).”
The big cat owner was scammed out of 50,000 rubles (approx. $650) by someone who contacted him on WhatsApp pretending to be Oleinik. Zapashny, who took to social media to explain the incident, revealed that the scammer asked him to send money because his sister was in dire need of medical attention.
Though the number was unfamiliar to Zapashny, he eventually agreed to send the money. Afterwards, he decided to call Oleinik, whom he knew in person, to confirm the situation. When Oleinik revealed that he was not involved in the incident, Zapashny realized that he had been scammed.
“I feel insulted having lost this money today only because I know that such a creature would never help anyone,” Zapashny said on Instagram the following day.
Zapashny, an animal trainer by profession, is the general director of the state-owned Big Moscow Circus, which is known for its cruel animal performances such as lion taming and dancing bears.
When asked to comment on the situation, Oleinik told reporters that he was in “disbelief” with the situation, especially since Zapashny had his real phone number.
“He said that he was distracted during a live stream and sent money because he thought that I really needed it”, Oleinik explained.