The court took into custody a 24-year-old man suspected of extorting almost two million rubles from a Russian pensioner. The Prosecutor’s Office reported this to Lenta.ru Moscow.

According to the department, a 79-year-old resident of the capital received a call from an unknown person who introduced himself as an investigator and said that her daughter was the culprit of the accident. To avoid initiating a criminal case, the woman had to transfer 250 thousand rubles along with things for a relative to the hospital. After some time, the scammers called the pensioner again and demanded 900 thousand rubles and $1,000 for an operation for the victim in the accident. A couple of hours later, other participants in the accident also needed money for medical care.

All four times the woman transferred funds through taxi drivers, who did not suspect anything. To make the calls more convincing, the scammers handed the phone to a girl who pretended to be the victim’s daughter and asked for help.

The total damage amounted to 1.7 million rubles. During interrogation, the suspect admitted that he took only part of the money for himself, and transferred the rest to his accomplices.