UrBC, Moscow, October 11, 2018. The Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Enforcement at Russia’s Internal Affairs Ministry uncovered a fraud at FOREX’s Russian representation.

‘According to the information we have, the suspects used the name of the well-known brand to act as legitimate forex e-traders for their customers and collected private customers’ funds, promising enormous profits and ROI in return. In actuality, all the money got transferred to ad hoc accounts and stolen,’ says Russia’s Internal Affairs Ministry’s official spokesperson Irina Volk.

To make everything look more believable, the suspects used special software to set up ‘make-believe’ accounts for their customers that looked like they had customers’ money in them. A special plug-in was used to imitate a withdrawal transaction.

According to the ministry’s preliminary estimates, the damage exceeded RUR 1bn, with over a thousand people falling victims to the fraud.

A criminal lawsuit followed, with charges based on Article 159 (Part 4) of Russia’s Criminal Code (Fraud).