Russian authorities issue warning over phone scammers tricking citizens into burning down enlistment offices

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and the Interior Ministry have issued official warnings about a new form of telephone fraud in which Russians are pressured or tricked into setting fire to military enlistment offices.

According to the agencies, these scammers generally call from Ukrainian territories and choose elderly Russians as their targets. Introducing themselves as bank employees or policemen, the attackers often tell their victims that their money is at risk of being stolen, say it’s already been stolen, or simply threaten them or their loved ones before demanding the person set fire to “objects of military, transport, or bank infrastructure,” the Interior Ministry said.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said the scale of these calls has been “massive” and that they’ve coincided with periods of success for the Russian military on the front. Additionally, the fact that so many fraudsters began using this specific approach in just the last week indicates that “practically all of the telephone scammers attacking Russians are located in Ukraine and are following the same orders,” the Interior Ministry noted.