According to RBC-Daily, some fraudsters from Moscow have been offering citizens of Russia and the NIS Metro Cash & Carry cards at prices varying from 650 to 1,550 RUR. The company itself claims their cards are only distributed free of charge among legal entities and sole traders and promises to block the fake ones.

A company named Planet Tornado Ltd. has been sending out e-mail advertisements claiming that any natural person living in Russia or any country of the NIS can get a card provided their send them an application with passport details, in which case a sole trader Ilya Konovalov will send the client an agreement form and a bank receipt to be paid at Sberbank. The cost of the service ranges from 650 to 1,550 RUR depending on the number of cards ordered. Mr. Konovalov promises to give the details of the enterprise with which the cards are to be registered in a few days’ time. Metro Cash & Carry is then supposed to give you a card if you produce your passport.

This swindle is not a difficult thing to do in terms of technology: a sole trader only has to find companies that did not use their right to a Metro card and sign an agreement about giving this right to him or her.