Estonian Artists' Association scam case culprits sentenced to prison
Two men were convicted under a plea agreement for their involvement in scamming the Estonian Artists' Association's accountant for over €16,000 from her personal accounts in a single day.
Aleksandr Kalinin and Vitali Nikolajev were not the masterminds behind the fraud scheme but acted as couriers. The individuals who devised the scheme to drain the accounts of the Estonian Artists' Association and its accountant are being investigated in a separate criminal case.
According to Andrei Voronin, the prosecutor who led the proceedings, the case demonstrates that phone scams require an entire network of people performing different roles in the crime.
"These schemes also involve people who collect victims' bank cards, use them to withdraw cash or pass the money on to others. Carrying out such tasks also constitutes knowingly participating in a crime and carries criminal liability," Voronin said.
Voronin added that, in fraud cases, compensating victims for their losses is just as important as holding the perpetrators accountable.
"Money obtained through criminal activity does not become the criminal's property. In this case, the men have already compensated the victim for part of the losses and a payment schedule has been agreed upon to cover the remaining amount," Voronin said.
According to the charges, the scam began on May 7, when the victim, an accountant for the Estonian Artists' Association, received calls from individuals posing as employees of Omniva, a bank and the police. They persuaded her to authorize transactions using Mobile-ID, place her bank cards in an Omniva parcel locker and give the scammers access to her bank card PIN codes.
Valmar Viitak, head of the serious crimes unit at the Police and Border Guard Board's Northern Prefecture, said scammers often recruit young people as money couriers through social media.
"The job advertisements promise people the opportunity to earn a high salary quickly and with little effort. Although those involved in these schemes are led to believe their activities are anonymous and legal, that is not the case and we will track them down sooner or later. Acting as a money courier is a crime and such activity will not go unnoticed or unpunished. We are working continuously to stop fraud schemes at an early stage and to apprehend and bring to justice the criminals operating here," Viitak said.
According to the charges, Aleksandr Kalinin retrieved the victim's bank cards from the parcel locker and then used them together with Vitali Nikolajev to withdraw money from various ATMs. Over the course of a single day, the men made seven withdrawals totaling €16,200 from the victim's accounts.
The men acted jointly and in coordination with other individuals who have yet to be identified. Vitali Nikolajev handed the money over to an unidentified individual. The court convicted both men of computer fraud committed as a group.
The court sentenced Aleksandr Kalinin to one year and six months in prison, of which he must serve six months. The remaining one-year sentence was suspended on the condition that he commit no new crimes during a two-year probationary period and comply with the supervision requirements imposed on him.
Vitali Nikolajev was sentenced to one year in prison in this case. However, because he had three years and 11 months remaining to serve under a previous court ruling, his final sentence totaled four years and 11 months in prison. Time already spent in pretrial detention will count toward both men's sentences.
Under a settlement reached to resolve the victim's civil claim, the men will compensate the victim for the remaining losses according to an agreed payment schedule.
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Editor: Mari Peegel, Marcus Turovski
