Thirty-five men from Russia's Volga region have been charged with conning foreign men out of 5 million rubles ($160,000) by posing online as young women who needed money, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Investigators said the suspects, mostly students, rented apartments in the city of Yoshkar-Ola and a nearby village and manned computers 24 hours a day. About 15 people worked in each “office” from autumn 2004 to July 2007.
“The suspects introduced themselves as local women and maintained e-mail correspondence with foreigners,” the prosecutors’ statement said.
“During their communication, they would ask the foreigners to transfer money for various reasons. The transfers ranged from $100 to $4,000,” they said.
The suspects received money from 125 foreigners in the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and Britain.
The most active members of the group might face up to ten years in jail if convicted.
