MOI FOR THE MARIY EL REPUBLIC RECEIVED GRATITUDE FROM AN AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN.

MOSCOW, Russia -- The following information was released by the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation:

An Australian citizen Peter James sent his gratitude to the website of the MOI for Mariy El, to the section "Write a Letter to the Minister". In his letter, he thanks the Administration of the Ministry, as well as officers of the Cyber Crime Prevention Department and the Investigation Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate for Ioshkar Ola for identification and detention of a Ioshkar Ola's skamer, who tricked him out of his money in the amount of about three thousand Australian dollars.

To be precise, the sum of the damage caused to the Austalian was 98,343 rubles. This was the sum paid by the 55-year-old Australian to help a beautiful Russian girl Elena from the Mariy El Republic, who he got acquainted with on one of international dating sites at the beginning of 2010, to come to him.

When they started their correspondence, the girl informed him that she lived with her grandmother, helped her on the farm and at the same time worked as an operation nurse in a hospital. She complained that she was short of money and could not afford a mobile phone to speak to him. That is why they only could communicate via the Internet. Evidently, the Australian was so moved by the story of the 29-year-old beauty that he sent an equivalent of about 8,600 rubles. However, in her next letter the girl wrote again that she had not bought the phone since she still had no money to pay for telephone talks. So, she would better spend this money on a ticket to Australia. Since this sum was not sufficient for the ticket, she asked to send some more money. In order to be more convincing, she sent him an alleged copy of her passport. As a result, the foreigner transferred more than an equivalent of 29,600 rubles and started waiting for his bride.

According to Yekaterina Poptsova, Investigator of the Investigation Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate for Ioshkar Ola, who later interrogated the victim via Skype, the middle-aged foreigner was full of confidence in the 29-year-old Russian girl, because she promised to come and definitely cure him of his ailment got during participation in warfare. However, having received the money, she disappeared. James wrote one letter after another to her, but in vain. There was no answer. Then, having suspected that something was wrong, he became seriously worried. Some time later, an unknown girl called him and said that Elena was not able to come because she was detained at the Customs. The girl, who called him, explained that $2,000 was needed for customs clearing, but Elena did not have this sum. Not wishing to put up with such injustice, the Australian borrowed the necessary sum from his mother, sent it to Russia and began preparing for the arrival of his beloved. Having vainly waited for her from May to August, the foreigner realized that he had been deceived and some time later he appealed to the Cyber Crime Prevention Department of the MOI for Mariy El.

According to Ivan Smolentsev, Head of the Cyber Crime Prevention Department, after Peter James's application had been received, operational and investigative actions were carried out, which helped identify the address, from which the letters had been sent, whereupon the person who really communicated with the foreigner was also identified. It turned out to be not Elena, but a male, a 24-year-old citizen of Ioshkar-Ola. After a system unit was seized from his flat during the search, the young man, realizing the inevitability of punishment, came to militia himself and wrote the acknowledgement of guilt. Officers of the Cyber Crime Prevention Department also identified the girl who had received the money transferred by the foreigner and gave them to the offender.

In early May, the young man returned all the stolen money to the Australian. Being very happy with the positive outcome of the unpleasant situation, the foreigner wrote the letter of gratitude to officers of the MOI for Mariy El: "The splendid result is not only that this man admitted having committed the crime, but also returned all the money to me. This means that I have returned it to my elderly mother. Once again, I express by gratitude to all those who took part in this case," Peter James wrote in his letter.

At the end of May, the criminal case in respect of this fact was considered by the City Court of Ioshkar-Ola, which found the young man guilty in having committed this crime and sentenced him to imprisonment for a term of 8 months suspended.

Press Service of the MOI for Mariy El