A fake ambulance service was exposed in Moscow: they were robbing patients

They were taken money for hospitalization in a paid ward and deceived

The fake ambulance service was exposed by police officers in the capital. Fraudsters in white coats aimed to rob the patient completely under the pretext of hospitalization in comfortable conditions. The business was put on a grand scale: the swindlers registered under a loud name, purchased cars with flashing lights and began to go out to call the sick.

As MK learned, enterprising doctors decided to benefit from the coronavirus epidemic. At the end of 2020, when there was a second wave of COVID-19, the number of patients increased sharply. It was then that “well-wishers” appeared, ready to take the patient to a paid department of the hospital for a very impressive reward. They registered the website “hospitalization-in-moscow.rf”, on which they advertised emergency hospitalization of coronavirus patients. Gullible citizens used the link to find a phone number and call a private medical service. The team came to the patient in a car with the symbols of an “ambulance” (a total of 12 cars were purchased and registered). The doctors were quite real – the business organizers recruited several recruits at the substations of a real ambulance. They convinced the patient that they could take him to a paid department of one of the Moscow hospitals, where the citizen would lie in a separate super-comfortable room and be surrounded by increased attention. In particular, they talked about the central clinical hospital of Russian Railways and the Moscow Clinical Center for Infectious Diseases “Voronovskoye”. Since any hospitalization in a public clinic must be coordinated with the city ambulance dispatch service, the cunning people resorted to various tricks. For example, they passed off one patient as the head coach of the CSKA team, assuring that the treatment of a high-ranking athlete would be paid for by the employer. Another patient was “made” a nurse at the very hospital where they were going to take her. In addition, paramedics artificially worsened the condition of everyone in need of help, convincing the dispatcher that they had a very severe stage of coronavirus, and delaying death was likely.

As a result, the patient was taken to the desired hospital. At the end of the trip, he was offered to pay an impressive amount for hospitalization – from 50 thousand rubles. The client resignedly gave the money, but already in the emergency department it became clear that no paid ward would “shine” for him – the patient would be treated on a general basis, without any benefits. Of course, people tried to understand what they paid for, but there was no trace of unscrupulous paramedics.

The police were able to identify at least three victims of fraudsters. One of the paramedics, a resident of Kraskovo near Moscow, testified against the organizers of the scam. He entered into a pre-trial agreement and recently received a suspended sentence of 5 years in prison by the verdict of the Trinity Court. The head of the private ambulance and several of his employees are still awaiting their fate – their case is being considered separately.