He stole $ 8 million from banks and was released after 4 years. Interview with a Bank fraudster.

[Carder]

Introduction​

Muscovite Balthazar Haydn-Prokhorov, who by the age of 31 had already gained fame in the criminal world due to his "talents". He managed to deceive the security systems of the capital's banks and steal about eight million dollars. When Balthazar was finally caught, he ended up in the famous "Kremlin Central" — a prison for prisoners with a special status. There, the swindler quickly established a comfortable life with food from the restaurant and a cigar club, and also made acquaintances with famous carers. Balthazar Haydn Prokhorov told his story about how to steal a million dollars and spend time in prison.

No one wants to live on one salary​

Why did you decide to steal money from banks?

Haydn Prokhorov: It wasn't need that drove me to commit crimes. I come from a well-to-do family: my parents are successful banking and investment financiers. I am Japanese by education, graduated from the higher school of Economics and was interested in psychology since childhood.

I've also enjoyed taking risks since high school, and I knew I was a natural adventurer. Not that I want to challenge society, but I know that banks make money out of thin air. And I wanted to see if I could grab some of them.

Where did you start?

To begin with, I needed an informant who was ready to merge data about VIP clients with large accounts. Your own person inside. Usually in banks with such clients work girls and young women. And so I appeared in the Bank under the guise of a client, reported that I planned to Deposit 20 million rubles and asked them to tell me about the conditions for storing funds in the account.

At the same time, with the help of special techniques from psychology, I tried to get closer to Bank employees, become a friend for them and continue to communicate outside the Bank. Of course, this is not done at one time - I came and talked to them again and again.

So I had at that time working in several branches of the Bank. The most important thing is to involve the target of recruitment in my game. Where I got the money from, the girl from the Bank is not interested. It is important for her that if I invest, she will receive her bonus.

What did your communication with female employees look like outside of banks?

If I managed to get one of them interested, I would start closing the distance. For example, he could rent a Mercedes with a personal driver to match his role, and call a girl from the Bank to the bar. And then I started to seduce her, but not in terms of sex, but in terms of the prospect of quick and easy earnings.

According to legend, I had my own investment Fund, and she was required to provide me with data on VIP clients that I could attract to myself

For the information I need, I promised her my bonus. And the girl, of course, was interested in this: no one in Russia wants to live on one salary. And in my legend, she was waiting for a solid increase in salary, while the risks were minimal. Such data leakage is considered an official, but not a criminal offense.

"Banks are afraid when you withdraw money»​

How did you choose the person from whose account the money was to be withdrawn?

I have accumulated a solid file of VIP clients of various banks. My goal was people who had no more than a million dollars in their account-500-700 thousand is optimal. If the amount is higher, customers are usually under special attention of the Bank management. Roughly speaking, such people are known by sight. Next, I needed a duplicate of the person's passport, but with a new photo

Where did you get them?

In 2013, I just found the right office on the web and sent it the client data from my friend in the Bank. The work was done without any questions - I paid about three thousand dollars for my passport. But given that $ 700,000 was at stake, I could afford such expenses.

Then my man with a duplicate passport of the victim, in which his photo was pasted, went to the Bank and transferred money from the account of client A to the account of client B, and in the same Bank. This is very important: most of all, banks are stressed when you withdraw money in cash, and large amounts at that. Then questions may arise.

And so the money remained in the same Bank-just on an account of a different denomination. This denomination had previously come to the branch several times, put small amounts on the account, and managed to get used to it. And by the day of the transfer, he warned the Bank that he should receive money, and ordered the amount to be withdrawn.

When 700 thousand dollars were credited to the account, he withdrew 500 and asked to put the rest on his cards, which, of course, were previously made by him in the same Bank. These remaining 200 thousand dollars during the day were then withdrawn at various ATMs.

A notification about the transfer of money to the victim of your shenanigans didn't you come?

You forget - I had the victim's passport, even if it wasn't quite real. This means that I could simply disable notifications. Before the operation, I performed a complete analysis of the person. I knew where he lived, what he drove, and what his mobile number was. After all, it was important not to take money from some criminal authority.

It turns out that you were afraid of the possible revenge of the people you robbed?

And I did not Rob any of the people - in all my episodes, the victims are banks. The client saw that there was no money in the account and came to the Bank with a claim. They conducted an analysis, realized from the cameras that the money was withdrawn by a fraudster, and returned the amount to the victim. If the Bank is state-owned, it is a little more complicated-people took the money through the court. But they took it away

The court ruled in favor of the clients, because the financial institution, in fact, did not fulfill its obligations to safely store funds. So no investor is not affected. Such are vegetarian crimes.

Who were your accomplices?

Some were difficult people. One of the assistants, for example, was a retired ex-employee of the internal security Department of the Ministry of internal Affairs in Novy Urengoy. He helped me a lot — he picked actors, went to the Bank a couple of times under the guise of a client.

I personally only talked to him, but never met with ordinary denominations. That's why, by the way, they couldn't charge us with an organized criminal group: no one knew each other. Of all the loot, I paid 20 percent to my special agent, and 30 percent to other people, including the girl from the Bank. I kept half of it for myself, but no one complained.

Did you use the same scheme for all your crimes?

No - it changed every time, because banking services do not sleep. But they never work ahead of time, and neither do the police — they only react to what has happened. But they react quickly, closing loopholes that were used earlier. That is why I am not afraid to talk about it now: today it is impossible to repeat my crimes.

But in 2013-2014 they brought me eight million dollars

In General, I used different schemes. For example, in one case, there was a fake power of attorney from a client in the name of a girl who came to collect money. And the last three crimes were committed according to the scheme with "their" client.

I found out that money from banks is returned to all victims, and I thought-why should I steal customer funds at all, if I can make my own?

Who became "their" client?

I asked a friend to come to the Bank and Deposit 700 thousand dollars into the account, and I gave him ten thousand dollars and sent him to Thailand. At the same time, he left me his Russian passport. Then I found a person who looked as much like the passport photo as possible: it was a guy who was handing out flyers on the street. We agreed, and he went and collected the money.

And then my accomplice came back from Thailand, came to the Bank and asked for an account statement. Seeing zero there, he made surprised eyes

Then everything was simple: the Bank's security service conducted an analysis, looked at the cameras and realized that the funds were not received by the owner. This means that the money must be returned to the owner.

By the way, all the actors who worked for me were men, which created some difficulties: it was easier to "fake" a woman. But working with men is calmer. I told some of the actors a legend: they say, you need to help a good man, whose wife-bitch stole all the money. And male solidarity is a great thing. Especially with a good fee.

Were there any serious people among the victims of your scams?

Yes, in 2014 I received money from a serious and rich man - later I saw him in court. The media presented it as the largest producer of plastic bottles in Europe. But the humor was that I got money from the Bank thanks to his original passport. Moreover, I did not steal the document, but actually received it from the FMS Department.

I had the details of the potential victim, but after studying his identity, I realized that a fake passport might not work. And then I found a company online that could officially provide assistance in obtaining a Russian passport for 20 thousand rubles. As it turned out, Russian corrupt officials are even cheaper than those who forge documents.

How were you detained?

After each of my crimes, the Bank security services conducted checks and passed the data to the police. But the cases were there without any movement: legally, everything was clear for me. But then two of my accomplices were detained because of some trifles, and they got scared and wrote sincere letters. It was an embarrassing miscalculation.

And at 6: 15 a.m., 12 people came to my hotel room, and without knocking. But in General, everything was polite — I even managed to order coffee while the search was going on. I was charged under part 4 of article 159 ("fraud on a particularly large scale") of the criminal code of the Russian Federation, but I said that I would not sign anything and asked for a lawyer.

Cigar club in jail​

Where did you end up after being detained?

I spent the first three months at Butyrka. The inmates treated me with respect and said, like, dude, you're just cool. Of course, I didn't tell them all the details of my Affairs. And then I was transferred from Butyrka to the famous Kremlin Central at the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center.

Prisoners in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center»

There is strictly — nothing superfluous is launched, no phones or alcohol. This place is under the control of the Federal security service. For the first seven days after the quarantine began, I lived in a clean, solitary cell that looked like a cheap hostel. Then they were transferred to a special unit with good conditions.

The cell had a refrigerator, toilet and the option of ordering books and food from the restaurant. For example, a Peking duck in the Kremlin Central cost about 2.5 thousand rubles. There was a TV that worked until 23: 00, and a gym with poor barbells and an hourly wage of 280 rubles. In General, in a pre-trial detention center, if you have money, you can live. I'd say the prison is the most expensive hotel I've ever been to.

The special section contains difficult people — who did you meet there?

I shared the camera with Alexander Buryakov, former Deputy head of the Federal Agency for special construction (Spetsstroy), and Boris Vainzikher, Director of the T Plus company and a defendant in the case of ex — Governor Gaiser. Together with Vainzikher and the St. Petersburg oligarch Dmitry Zarubin, we smoked cigars. We had our own cigar club on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Is this possible in a pre-trial detention center?

The fact is that alcohol is not allowed in the camera, but tobacco is allowed. And Boris Vainzikher once sat in the next cell with businessman Sergei Polonsky. And then, when weinzicher was transferred to us, he said, they say, I have a whole box of Cohiba (Fidel Castro's favorite cigars) from the vacated neighbor, let's smoke.

The term of my stay in the pre-trial detention center was included in the sentence — they gave me six years (although the prosecution asked for ten), and after four years I was able to get out on PAROLE.

The guard's baton rested gently on his shoulder​

What were your most vivid impressions after the verdict?

From what I remember - perhaps the transfer to correctional colony No. 3 (IK-3) in the Tambov region: it's pretty scary and messy. As if the conditions are specially created there so that people do not want to return there.

This is partly justified: as a psychologist who has worked in a penal colony for more than 20 years explained to me, there is a special type of person who wants to go to prison. Such people know that they will get some kind of food, shelter and medical care there. I've seen them myself - they'd rather die in prison than on the heating main.

The guards at the stage did not beat us, and the dogs barked more to intimidate us. Of course, this is all harsh, but it is due to the fact that it is at the time of transportation that convicts most often try to escape. I had no problems with the guards: I understood that their task was to escort me from point A to point B.

They gave me clear commands to follow, and sometimes even helped me with my bags when I jumped out of the train at a stop. And there was also a funny moment: at one of the transfers, it became boring to sit with my face to the wall, and I raised my head to look around. Then the guard's baton was laid gently on my shoulder. I understood the gesture and buried my head in the wall.

What did you do in the colony?

In fact, I was sort of the chief public relations officer there. That is, the head of the detachment comes to me and says: they say, a Colonel comes to us about the observance of human rights in the pre-trial detention center, he needs to have a conversation with someone. Go talk to him. The problem is that there aren't any decent people in the zone.

I also had to make a social video in my penal colony about how prisoners are getting on the path of correction

I agreed to show my prison yoga classes, and the video was a success. We won first place in some competition of the Federal penitentiary service, and this largely helped me get out on PAROLE.

Although initially I was very far from conditional release with my 23 violations. I went to the punishment cell more than once because I didn't make the bed according to the regulations, and not out of spite, I was just too lazy. And the brig, to be honest - is a terrible place. This is a basement where it is cold, mildewy and difficult to breathe.

In General, I realized that if you go there often, you can lose your health. And then I began to strive to get out on PAROLE. And last September I left Tambov IK-3. Now I want to become a blogger and tell people how important it is to know your inner world, especially its dark side, which is better to keep under control.