vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #564 / Crime watch / Reading article...

Vladivostok police detained a woman who scammed elderly ladies for money by convincing them she was a neighbor in trouble. To make the scenario perfectly believable she put on a police uniform.

Police of the Sovetsky residential district of Vladivostok recently detained Svetlana Pozdnyakova, 41, for alleged fraudulent actions. Pozdnyakova, who served her previous sentence in a Dalnegorsk prison, was released on parole due to her good behavior.

However, Pozdnyakova did not continue in her good behavior after her release, and soon invented an intricate scheme to scam money from people.

Wearing a police uniform, she knocked on the apartment doors of elderly ladies and presented herself as their new neighbor. Then she shared with her victims a sad story of being locked out of her apartment. According to the set up story, Pozdnyakova urgently needed 2,000 rubles ($80) to pay rescuers who would unlock the door. She asked the old ladies to lend her the sum and promised to return it after her door was opened.

After receiving the money, she easily escaped from the building. Police revealed that they registered at least 10 reports of the scam from elderly women in the Sovetsky district of the city.

Police have launched an investigation saying that Pozdnyakova is currently giving details about her criminal actions.