TV Rain released its investigative film “Hunting for Death Benefits” on June 21, examining how relatives of Russian soldiers missing in the war are deceived.
The author of the investigation, journalist Yekaterina Fomina, used a fictional character, her “husband” Nikolai Fomin. For posts in search groups, she published an AI-generated image assembled from dozens of photos of Russians who had actually gone missing in the war.
According to the journalist, just 15 minutes after posting in chats for missing soldiers, she was told that her “husband” was in captivity. Almost immediately, scammers contacted her while posing as Ukrainian blogger Dmytro Karpenko, who publishes interviews with captured Russian soldiers. The report notes that the real Karpenko did not call her.
The callers suggested downloading an infected file to communicate. Once installed, such malware intercepts incoming text messages, including bank notifications, and sends messages to the victim’s contacts.
In another scheme, Fomina was asked to send money allegedly for “fighters’ various needs.” She said that people who are told their relative has been found alive may be threatened that he will be “zeroed out” if they do not pay. In correspondence she published, the scammers first sent a disappearing photo with the question “Yours?”, and after she replied that she had not managed to view it, they wrote:
“Then not yours. We’ll zero him out as unidentified. Next time, be more attentive.”
One victim of the same scheme said the scammers pressure relatives with the line:
“What matters more to you, money or saving your person?”
Another person who contacted Fomina was Inga (Indira) Musayeva, a resident of Dagestan, who claimed she had helped find a missing person in 2024 and had “connections with generals,” as well as “700 women and 300 fighters.” According to the journalist, Musayeva had previously been tried on fraud charges. Fomina was also advised to turn to a military lawyer and to a tarot reader who searches for people “through cards, coffee grounds, and photographs” and performs a “return love spell.” At the end of the report, the journalist said one scammer asked for 24,000 rubles to find her “Kolya” and even add him to prisoner exchange lists.