WEBVTT

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[ Voice ]There's been an attempt to steal
around $500 from your account

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[ VO ]Trust no one, particularly the strangers calling you.

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[ Voice ]This is Sberbank security service. I’m
a junior specialist. My name’s Nikolay.

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[ VO ]If they ask you for card details, hang up.

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[ Voice ]This is social security administration, and I’m…

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[ VO ]If they introduce themselves as a
bank and offer a new loan, hang up.

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[ Voice ]This is Cheat investigation
share right up my speaking with

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[ VO ]The person on the other end claims to be an
official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Prosecutor’s

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Office and asks you to help with an investigation and
transfer your money to a third-party account. Hang up.

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[ Voice ]Hello, sir! My name is Janie Williams,
from Microsoft Windows, OK?

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[ Voice ]Social Security Administration, this is
officer David Brown How can I help you?

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IN YEAR 2020, CYBER- AND PHONE SCAMMERS
STOLE 50 BILLION ROUBLES FROM RUSSIAN CITIZENS

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[ Voice ]I’m calling about your application to change
your financial phone number, made 7 minutes ago,

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[ VO ]This film is about the people who
appeared to be too gullible and the people

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who steal money from those
incautious. And a little about a retribution.

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IN YEAR 2020, CYBER- AND PHONE SCAMMERS
STOLE 50 BILLION ROUBLES FROM RUSSIAN CITIZENS

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[ Voice ]This is the remained recall
from Amazon. Thank you for

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reviewing prime account and
you have been charged 79.799

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CYBERCRIME

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[ VO ]Kolkata is a huge megalopolis in North-East
India. It’s not only colonial architecture and yellow

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“ambassador” cabs that it is famous for. It’s been
recently referred to as the capital of the Internet fraud.

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[ VO ]A whole district, known as
‘Sector 5’ has become home to hundreds

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of scammers. Their victims live
thousands of kilometers away from

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India – in Great Britain, the USA and Canada. That’s why there is
light on all nights long in many windows of Sector 5 buildings.

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[ VO ]Shifts start here when a day
dawns on another continent.

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[ Nagarjuna ] This is Sector 5,

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Salt Lake City

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[ Nagarjuna ]OK, let's get going

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[ Nagarjuna ]We've just made a U-turn from
here, and I'm holding a camera

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[ Nagarjuna ]Everyone is looking around,
very suspicious, very scared... It's

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really hard to film here because
everybody is scared to show

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their faces, because everyone
knows they are doing illegal things.

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NAGARJUNA REDDI
INDIAN JOURNALIST

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[ VO ]Nagarjuna is a local journalist who researches on
the topic of the Internet fraud. He’s trying to find out

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how this illegal business works. In Kolkata, he managed
to meet some former employees of scam call centers.

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[ Nagarjuna ]It's a scam call center
There is a bank ATM

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here... a security guard,
who is just watching

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[ Employee ]So, at that time, I heard from a
friend that there was a vacancy

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at the call center. I decided to
work there to earn some money

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[ Employee ]Let me explain how fraudulent
call centers work in Kolkata

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[ Employee ]Their number here is soaring
and there's no end in sight.

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FRAUDULENT CALL CENTRE
EMPLOYEE, SECTOR 5, KOLKATA, INDIA

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[ Employee ]It's the main way many young people
make a living - it's easy money 80-85% of

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young people do this in some way Some
start call centers. Others work for existing

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ones, saying they're Windows, Amazon,
or internet tech support The scams take

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various forms The most dangerous
thing is victims don't get that it's a scam

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[ VO ]This is what a scam often looks like. You receive
a voice massage or an e-mail saying “You are

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entitled to a Microsoft payment” or “Someone is
making purchases using your Amazon account.”

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[ Voice ]Hi! This is the remind re-call from Amazon.

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[ VO ]A surprised customer calls back to
learn that he is about to be charged

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for a new online subscription. The
victim is indignant. The scammers

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are certainly understanding and
cancel the service. Moreover, they

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offer to refund a few hundreds
of dollars for the unused service.

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[ Employee ]They ask the victim to open the bank
account page. Manipulating the figures the

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client sees on the screen with remote
access, the scammers make sure the client

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sees 3000 dollars allegedly transferred to
his bank account instead of 300. Though,

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of course, no one has transferred any
money to anyone. If only the client had

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refreshed the page, it would have all
returned to its original state. And then the

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scammer will ask to send back the
money allegedly transferred. And he will say:

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“Sir, please, send the money back. Or
I’ll lose my job.” And they offer different

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ways of sending the money back: gift
certificates, eh, Western Union and so on.

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[ Employee ]So actually, if...

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[ Employee ]Well, on average, when I make 100 calls,

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a maximum of two
percent will be successful

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[ Employee ]Thirty percent of these
100 calls will be mishandled

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[ VO ]In Russia scammers make direct calls themselves,
as a rule. It’s not long until you receive such

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a call. Almost everyone gets to know an alleged
“Security Service of the bank” sooner or later.

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[ Voice ]There is an attempt to
transfer $75 from your personal bank

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account, to someone called Oleg
Kuzmin - Do you confirm the operation?

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[ Artyom ] No, I don't!

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[ Stanislav ] Our Cybersecurity service has created
what we believe is a very powerful department,

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which is called 'Front Monitoring',
where we monitor non-standard operations.

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[ STANISLAV KUZNETSOV, BOARD DEPUTY CHAIRMAN,
SBERBANK ]When people, who have been scammed by these

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conversations, transfer
some money, we mark the

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transaction as suspicious,
stop it, and contact our client

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[ CYBERSECURITY CALL CENTRE OPERATOR,
SBERBANK ]Diana Aleksandrovna? Yes, speaking...

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[ Operator ]Good day, my name's
Anastasia, with Sberbank We're verifying

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your account transactions Have you
done any online transactions today?

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[ Diana ]I'm sick and tired of you! I've been getting
calls all morning, from the bank and the

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prosecutor's office Why are you bothering
me? I've already given you all the information I can

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[ Diana ]I'm fed up with these
calls [ Operator ]Did you give them

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the card number, the 3 digits
on the back, and expiration date?

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[ Diana ]Of course! It was required for the investigation.

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[ Diana ]Aleksey Ivanovich told me
they needed all the data.

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[ Diana ]I gave them both of my card's details,
and 3 cards in other banks.

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[ Operator ]Diana Aleksandrovna, you talked to a scammer. Your
card has now been suspended. A bank employee never asks for card

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verification information, such as the card number, the three
digits on the back of the card, and the expiration date. Such

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data is requested only by
scammers to make transactions on the

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Internet. Also, Diana Aleksandrovna,
you need to go to the offices

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of your other banks or call
their contact centers and have

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your cards blocked. The money
on your Sberbank account is safe.

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[ Stanislav ]Today, a criminal call center
engaged in social fraud...

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employs between 5-7... even up to 30-40 people,
who call their clients non-stop

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[ Stanislav ]We believe every
100th call reaches its

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objective, and the client
starts talking... to this criminal

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STANISLAV KUZNETSOV
BOARD DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, SBERBANK

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[ Stanislav ]And the person is then dragged into a
conversation, aimed at convincing them they

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have a problem If there's a problem,
there's a fast way to fix it Some present

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themselves... as the police, some the
bank's security service, some as a loan officer,

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and some as a social security employee
In this situation, people tend to lose control

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[ Maria ]I want to talk to a lawyer...
Specifically, her!

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[ VO ]Maria Evgenyevna lost
vigilance along with her savings of

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more than 1 mln roubles. More
importantly, the scammers managed to

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convince her to take a loan of another 2 mln roubles and use her
only small flat in the outskirts of Moscow as a security deposit.

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[ MARIA VITACHEK VICTIM OF FRAUD ]I
woke up, picked up the phone and said:

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'Who is it?' He later said he was Sergey
He told me he was part of a group...

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from some kind of
bank fraud enforcement task force

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[ Maria ]Why did I listen? You know,
everyone gets a different story

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[ Maria ]Some say the bank has already
lost your savings! But my savings

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needed to be transferred to a
safe, secure account He was from

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the team combatting these scammers,
and I needed to go to my bank

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[ Maria ]He said he'd meet me there
and tell me where to transfer the

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money And so I went... The bank
clerk I was talking to didn't want

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to give me that much She
said straight away: 'Why are you

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withdrawing all your money at
once?' Very important... urgent, I said

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[ VO ]The fraudsters were scamming Maria
Evgenyevna out of money for days. In doing so, they

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insisted that the woman shouldn’t tell
anyone about the calls and she believed them.

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[ VO ]The scammers are shrewd psychologists and
manipulators. Moreover, modern remote fraud

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is basically a craft with specific stages
and mechanisms and even training manuals.

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[ Aleksandr ]Today on the web, there are about half a dozen
active groups that are engaged in such activities.

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ALEKSANDR VURASKO INFORMATION
SECURITY EXPERT, INFOSECURITY

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[ Aleksandr ]Here is an example of one such community which
has around two thousand members. Here, people

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talk to each other, discuss pressing problems,
discuss the details of how and who should

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be scammed. They ask technical questions.
There are manuals, i.e. prepared scripts on how

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to interact with victims. A person may not
know how to communicate with a potential victim,

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but they will be given such information. A
completely untrained person, who has no idea

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using the ready-made tools. And the most
interesting thing is, as you can see, there's no

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using the ready-made tools. And the most
interesting thing is, as you can see, there's no

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cost or skill involved in committing them.
But investigating such frauds is quite difficult.

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[ VO ]These are the most precious tools
of an internet scammer: a script of an

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interaction with a victim with the
most common conversation scenarios.

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[ Voice ]Is it easy to find work in such call centers?

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[ FRAUDULENT CALL CENTRE EMPLOYEE,
SECTOR 5, KOLKATA, INDIA ]Yes, it is. They are on every

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corner, on every street. There is always someone
who can recommend you. And in every office

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of this kind, they can teach you how to
scam people. It can take ten days to prepare.

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[ Employee ]Well, in a month at the most, they will explain
how to behave, how to talk, how to deceive.

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[ Employee ]It was easy for me to scam someone
out of money the first time. It was my first experience.

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[ Voice ]How did you feel?

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[ Employee ] Good! It's my
job. After that, I got my salary

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[ Voice ]Didn’t you feel ashamed?

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[ Employee ]No... No...

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[ FRAUDULENT CALL CENTRE EMPLOYEE,
SECTOR 5, KOLKATA, INDIA ]Absolutely

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not! This is my job. I have to do it.
After that, I received my paycheck.

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[ Andrey ]Now we're going to bait a scammer

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[ Andrey ]I’m now creating an ad at a ‘lost and found’ website
that I lost my documents and a phone near Mitino metro station.

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[ ANDREY HOST 'CLIPS ABOUT SCAMS' YOUTUBE
CHANNEL ] So, we’ll wait and see if any ‘finders’ call us.

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[ Voice ]What is their scamming scheme, in general?
What will they do? They’ll call you and then what?

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[ Andrey ]They’ll say that they found it. They may meet with
you, but they won’t bring cash, because maybe you’d

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bring police along and claim that you didn’t lose it,
but it was stolen, and you’d accuse them. So, they

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encourage you to find a payment terminal, put your
money on a given account. And then, after you put your

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money there, someone would bring your stuff and
give it to you. Obviously, that’s not going to happen.

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[ Andrey ]Hello?
[ Voice ]Did you lose your documents?

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[ Andrey ]Yes, I did! I posted an ad literally
a minute ago. Yes, I did lose them.

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[ Voice ]What if I come and you bring the cops?
- Me? With the police? No!

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[ Andrey ]Here's another call!

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[ Andrey ]Hello?
[ Voice ]Go to hell!

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[ Andrey ]Anything you'd like to add?
Go on, I'm listening

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[ Voice ]Shut up!
- I will not!

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[ Voice ]You'd better change your stupid voice.
It's too well known

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[ Andrey ]What do you mean?

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[ Voice ] Damn you!
- Will you ever quit insulting me?

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[ Andrey ]See? I got 2 calls at once.
One recognised me and bailed

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[ Voice ] Really? What did he say?
- It's all messed up

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[ Voice ] Did he recognise your voice?
- I guess. What else?

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[ VO ]These are the popularity’s downsides. The criminals
recognise the scammer hunter by voice. Thanks to hundreds

00:14:32.130 --> 00:14:38.110
of thousands of views on his YouTube channel. The
videos, however, aren’t too creative. Andrey discovers

00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:44.070
a new kind of scamming, leaves his contact number,
and then acts as if he’s a usual victim — all for just

00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:50.020
a few seconds of fury and desperation of the scammers
when they realise that it was them who got scammed.

00:14:50.050 --> 00:14:53.200
[ Voice ] You'll find out all about scammers.
Think about it!

00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:58.060
[ Voice ] I'll run your phone number against
the database, and show you!

00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:00.110
[ Andrey ]You'd rather s**t yourself

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[ Voice ] If your number is billed to you,
listen carefully to me: you're done!

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[ Voice ] Why are these videos so popular?

00:15:10.090 --> 00:15:14.160
[ Andrey ]Well, I think it’s because
of my charisma. I look like a

00:15:14.160 --> 00:15:19.100
loser, and when people
watch my videos, they think it

00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:24.010
can’t get more realistic.
That’s what gets people so

00:15:24.020 --> 00:15:28.110
engaged. They watch it, and
all the way through, they feel that

00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:32.180
a scammer realises their
‘catch’ is about to slip off

00:15:32.190 --> 00:15:37.130
the hook. And later, when in
the end I put all my cards on

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the table, the scammer
gets tricked, and they are mad

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about it — that is probably
the viewers’ most favourite part.

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[ Voice ] And when they realise that they’ve
been tricked, what do they say?

00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:56.090
[ Andrey ]I don’t think I can say that on television.
But they weren’t mild about it. When I play a

00:15:56.090 --> 00:16:03.010
role of a guy whose car was stolen or
something, I get into a character so much that when

00:16:03.020 --> 00:16:09.150
they start to yell, I sometimes get really
scared, because I can’t jump out of character

00:16:09.160 --> 00:16:16.160
so fast. Sometimes, I might even get all
sweaty because of their aggression and pressure.

00:16:18.010 --> 00:16:22.030
[ VO ]But the popularity of Andrey and his
channel pale in comparison to YouTubers who

00:16:22.040 --> 00:16:26.060
turned playing pranks on scammers into
a special kind of web art. Some YouTubers

00:16:26.070 --> 00:16:30.170
get millions of subscribers and tremendous
number of views due to them wasting

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hours of scammers’ time until they get
hysterical. Some sort of an Internet revenge.

00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.140
[ Voice ]Why did you do this!?

00:16:37.190 --> 00:16:39.150
[ Voice ]Why did you do this!?

00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:43.120
[ Voice ]Let me go ahead
and show you the next card, Steve!

00:16:44.130 --> 00:16:45.130
[ Voice ]Are you mad?

00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.090
[ Voice ]Are you mad? Why are you deleting cards?

00:16:50.030 --> 00:16:51.080
[ Voice ]Hello! Steve?

00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:55.030
[ Voice ] Is that you?
- Are you mad?

00:16:55.240 --> 00:17:01.040
[ Voice ] WHY are you deleting cards!?
- Let me scratch after the next one. Hold on!

00:17:01.090 --> 00:17:03.020
[ Voice ]Why are you deleting!?

00:17:04.230 --> 00:17:08.010
[ ARTYOM VOROBEY MAKER OF THE
DOCUMENTARY ]We want to verify each

00:17:08.020 --> 00:17:11.050
other's ID Is there a way to prove
that you're a Sberbank employee?

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[ Voice ]Mr. Vorobey, I don’t have to prove you anything.
As for now — tell me, are you going through

00:17:16.150 --> 00:17:21.170
the verification process, or should we document
it as a refusal to cooperate with the bank?

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[ Artyom ]I'm just wondering: your scripts
haven't been updated for 6

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months! You're saying the
same thing I heard last September

00:17:31.040 --> 00:17:35.180
[ Artyom ]Honestly, tell me the percentage
of people you get on the phone,

00:17:35.180 --> 00:17:40.070
who actually reach the
'verification step', as you call it?

00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:45.050
[ Artyom ]1 out of 100? 10 out of 100?
What percentage, approximately?

00:17:47.090 --> 00:17:51.190
[ Voice ]Artyom, what are you
talking about? Don't you have

00:17:51.190 --> 00:17:56.040
a personal life? You
could've used this time better...

00:17:56.090 --> 00:18:01.010
[ Artyom ]You won't believe it, but
it's for my work… Talking to

00:18:01.020 --> 00:18:06.040
you is for my work No
doubt, unwillingly... you're in a

00:18:06.050 --> 00:18:10.010
documentary about internet
scammers I can't tell you

00:18:10.020 --> 00:18:15.140
the date it will air yet, but I
think you'll recognise yourself

00:18:15.150 --> 00:18:19.120
[ Voice ]Well, Mr. Vorobey, in that case,
tell me, what kind of work is that?

00:18:20.220 --> 00:18:25.230
[ Aleksandr ]It can’t be done
without an efficient set of

00:18:25.230 --> 00:18:31.100
tools. Otherwise, it’s
quite time-consuming. That

00:18:31.100 --> 00:18:36.030
means a scammer would
have to find ways to withdraw

00:18:36.030 --> 00:18:41.150
money. They must have
bank cards and accounts in

00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:47.030
payment systems registered
to dummy figures. They

00:18:47.040 --> 00:18:52.150
must create fake social
media accounts. Not everyone

00:18:52.150 --> 00:18:57.220
can do it. This business
took a path of development

00:18:57.220 --> 00:19:03.040
which is called CAAS —
Cybercrime as a service.

00:19:03.150 --> 00:19:05.220
[ Nagarjuna ]This floor where lights are on...

00:19:07.030 --> 00:19:10.190
they're working the night shift

00:19:11.230 --> 00:19:15.240
[ Nagarjuna ]It's a call center targeting US and UK citizens

00:19:17.030 --> 00:19:22.200
[ Nagarjuna ]So right there are two floors of this office

00:19:25.090 --> 00:19:31.090
[ Nagarjuna ]You can see the lights are on... Business
is ongoing, people are working inside

00:19:31.110 --> 00:19:34.160
[ VO ]Nagarjun’s attempt at investigating
the work of scammers’ call centers

00:19:34.170 --> 00:19:38.040
in Kolkata ended with the journalist
being brought to a police station.

00:19:38.180 --> 00:19:45.220
[ Nagarjuna ]When we were strolling down the road, we met
someone, a guy... He works in a scam call center.

00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:47.240
NAGARJUNA REDDI
INDIAN JOURNALIST

00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:51.140
[ Nagarjuna ]He got furious after I asked
him this question: do you

00:19:51.140 --> 00:19:56.180
know anything about scam
call centers, or do you work

00:19:56.180 --> 00:20:01.000
in one? He became furious.
Then, he dialed a number

00:20:01.010 --> 00:20:05.240
on his phone I think he had
a friend in the local police.

00:20:06.230 --> 00:20:13.020
[ Nagarjuna ]He said: 'Do you know who I am?
Let me show you! I'm calling the police'

00:20:13.090 --> 00:20:16.140
[ Nagarjuna ]They took me to the police station

00:20:17.070 --> 00:20:22.120
[ VO ]After that incident, the journalist felt that he’d
better drop his investigation and leave Kolkata.

00:20:23.060 --> 00:20:26.230
[ Voice ]Anyway, why do people continue
to work at fraudulent call centers?

00:20:27.150 --> 00:20:32.190
[ FRAUDULENT CALL CENTRE EMPLOYEE, SECTOR
5, KOLKATA, INDIA ]Because there aren't many ways

00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:37.210
to make money here People who sweat at
honest jobs, make 10-12,000 rupees a month, while

00:20:37.220 --> 00:20:43.100
the scammers make 100,
200, 300 thousand for the same

00:20:43.110 --> 00:20:48.240
period Here, young teenagers
roll the streets in expensive cars

00:20:56.140 --> 00:20:59.150
FRAUDULENT CALL CENTRE EMPLOYEE, SECTOR
5, KOLKATA, INDIA

00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:03.160
[ Voice ]Do you remember your
1st call? [ Employee ]Yes, of course

00:21:03.170 --> 00:21:06.160
[ Voice ]Tell me about it [ Employee ]The
first man... He was an old man

00:21:06.170 --> 00:21:09.020
[ Employee ]We fooled him, of course

00:21:09.190 --> 00:21:14.090
[ Employee ]Like a... We took 15,000
pounds... No! 1,500 or

00:21:14.090 --> 00:21:18.170
maybe 2000 pounds We
scammed him He was an old man

00:21:18.180 --> 00:21:23.160
and I feel bad for him,
but... It's my job, so I

00:21:23.170 --> 00:21:28.150
need to do it, otherwise
my salary will go on hold.

00:21:29.030 --> 00:21:35.190
[ Employee ]I feel bad for him, but... I had no other
choice I'm not ashamed of doing this job,

00:21:35.190 --> 00:21:42.030
because once the British people did the
same in India Maybe, it's karma for them

00:21:42.040 --> 00:21:49.000
[ Employee ]They're experiencing karma now And they
have to pay back. What you do in this world,

00:21:49.010 --> 00:21:55.230
you have to pay back That's their karma
I'm not at all ashamed of doing this job

00:22:04.030 --> 00:22:10.080
[ ALEKSANDR VURASKO INFORMATION SECURITY
EXPERT, INFOSECURITY ]People who do this don't think of

00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:16.130
their victims as real people They don't see
them as real people. They think they're dinosaurs

00:22:31.030 --> 00:22:36.120
[ Maria ]He claimed the government needed
it... for helping society... The money

00:22:36.130 --> 00:22:41.190
would be returned, of course, with a
letter of gratitude and even an award.

00:22:41.190 --> 00:22:43.080
MARIA VITACHEK
VICTIM OF FRAUD

00:22:43.090 --> 00:22:47.230
[ Maria ]I said I didn't need
anything. I just wanted this

00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:52.090
tiring fuss to be over! But
they kept saying, it was the

00:22:52.090 --> 00:22:56.160
'last day' and they needed
a little more time to catch

00:22:56.170 --> 00:23:01.050
them. Then we'd all meet and
celebrate. That's how it went.

00:23:01.170 --> 00:23:05.060
[ VO ]Maria Evgenyevna’s case is not over
yet. She is getting legal counsel. First

00:23:05.060 --> 00:23:09.080
of all, lawyers are trying to challenge
an exorbitant loan against her flat.

00:23:09.210 --> 00:23:13.040
[ Anastasia ]We hope a criminal
case will be initiated for

00:23:13.050 --> 00:23:18.030
[ ANASTASIA SHTERN LAWYER ] fraud
against that microfinancing organisation that issues

00:23:18.040 --> 00:23:22.220
such loans, because unfortunately, there
are a lot of people like Maria Evgenyevna

00:23:22.230 --> 00:23:27.210
out there: not one, or two, or three. All of
them are old pensioners who make a large

00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:32.140
portion of population. And we still hope
that law enforcement will react to this,

00:23:32.150 --> 00:23:37.100
initiate a criminal case and at least begin
to investigate people who issue such loans.

00:23:37.110 --> 00:23:42.030
[ Anastasia ]And that she will get her property back,
along with at least some compensation for

00:23:42.040 --> 00:23:46.190
emotional distress damages. Our main
goal is to save her flat, and then do our best

00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:51.180
to get her a compensation for emotional
damages inflicted by those criminal actions.

00:23:52.010 --> 00:23:57.220
[ Maria ]It is stated that the monthly
payment is 80 thousand roubles. But

00:23:57.220 --> 00:24:03.180
within brackets, it says 180
thousand. An extra ‘1’, can you imagine?

00:24:08.220 --> 00:24:14.080
[ VO ]But so far, the lawyers’ efforts have been to no avail.
The pensioner has got a great unsustainable debt. Obviously,

00:24:14.080 --> 00:24:18.130
her money is still gone, but
now they can take away her flat.

00:24:21.210 --> 00:24:27.030
[ Voice ]...Sberbank tech services, senior
specialist Sergey Fyodorov speaking...

00:24:27.080 --> 00:24:34.000
... a report from the Central Bank re article
No. 159 Pt. 2 of Russia's Criminal Code...

00:24:34.050 --> 00:24:38.090
...we're seeing a $30 transaction
on your account right now...