The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia instructed the Moscow Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia to report about progress of investigation of a procedural probe upon mass media report about illegal actions against Great Patriotic Was veteran Vasily Pronin.

According to the report, unidentified persons used an already known fraudulent scheme. One of the accomplices called the 96-year-old veteran on the phone and introduced himself as a district police officer, leaving his contacts and offering to contact him in case of any problems. Later, unknown persons called the elderly man and, threatening him, demanded to transfer 400 thousand rubles. Vasily Pronin called back the first number, thinking that he is talking to a police officer. He, in his turn, asked the veteran to hand over the money and promised that the fraudster will be caught red-handed. After handing over the money the veteran understood that he was defrauded.

Investigators of the Moscow Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia are establishing circumstances of the said situation and will give legal assessment to the incident upon results of assessment activities. The Central Office of the Investigative Committee is to supervise the progress and results of the probe.

This case is not the first and there obviously can be other attempts to deceive gullible and elderly citizens. The Investigative Committee has previously reported about similar fraudulent schemes, in which perpetrators introduced themselves as investigators. We remind you once again that employees of law enforcement agencies, banks, government agencies never require citizens to carry out operations related to the transfer of their money to third parties, or to someone else's accounts under any pretext. In case of receiving such requests we strongly recommend to quit conversation and contact law enforcement bodies.