Simbirsk Metropolitanate

History

2025: Telephone scammers deceived the diocese in the Ulyanovsk region for 7 million rubles

In November 2025, fraud occurred in the Ulyanovsk region with significant material damage to the Barysh and Inzen dioceses. On the fact of the incident, the regional bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case on the grounds of corpus delicti provided for in part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud on an especially large scale).

According to information distributed by Kommersant-Volga, citing a source close to the department, the attackers used a falsified messenger account. They acted under the guise of the leadership of the Simbirsk and Novospassky metropolis, informing about the fictitious need for an urgent purchase of expensive church paraphernalia. Employees of the diocese completed the transfer of funds. According to a Kommersant-Volga source, the total amount of damage amounted to about 7 million rubles.

A spokesman for the diocese, Valery Shigaev, declined to comment, citing the lack of necessary powers. The administration of the Simbirsk and Novospassky metropolis confirmed the fact of submitting an application to law enforcement agencies and the start of the investigation.

In June 2025, a similar case of fraud was registered in Moscow, the victim of which was the archpriest of the Church of the Resurrection of the Word on the Arbat. According to the publication "MK," the scheme of illegal actions was as follows: the clergyman received a notification of the receipt of mail through the messenger. To complete the procedure for receiving the addressee, they were convinced to provide a confirmation code from SMS.

Following this, the clergyman's mobile phone received a call from persons who introduced themselves as employees of Rosfinmonitoring. Fraudsters reported hacking his account on the Public services portal and convinced to transfer all funds to the provided bank details. According to "MK," the amount of damage caused in this way amounted to 1 million 436 thousand 620 rubles.^[1][2]

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