Psychiatrist Markelov drew up a portrait of a typical arsonist of the military registration and enlistment office

A wave of arsons of military registration and enlistment offices has swept across Russia. The peak came in the last couple of days. The detainees during interrogations tell the same story: they received a call on their mobile and in some unthinkable way convinced them to commit a crime. The poor fellows themselves do not understand how they could be drawn into this, and they assure that they were in a state close to hypnosis. These people are telling the truth and whether such techniques for processing consciousness really exist, psychiatrist, political strategist Sergei Markelov told MK.

According to the words of the arsonists, they were processed according to the classic scheme of telephone swindlers. Only if earlier fraudsters, posing as investigators or employees of the Central Bank, lured money from gullible citizens from bank cards or forced them to issue unnecessary loans, now the case has taken a much more “hot” turn.

As calculated by Mash, at least 20 military registration and enlistment offices in Russia were tried to set fire to just yesterday.

So, in Volgograd, an 82-year-old pensioner was detained with a half-liter bottle of incendiary mixture and a wick. A 62-year-old lady tried to set fire to the military registration and enlistment office in the capital’s Kuzminki. In Otradnoye in the north-east of Moscow, a 69-year-old man wanted to arrange a fire show near the commissariat building. Another episode took place in Kazan, where a 31-year-old woman threw two Molotov cocktails at the service UAZ “Patriot”, standing near the military registration and enlistment office. In Bashkiria, an 18-year-old employee of a children’s store poured an incendiary mixture on the porch of the military registration and enlistment office and struck a match.

Some perpetrators have so far refused to testify. But those who spoke, tell the same thing: allegedly they were incited to arson by some “siloviki” who promised that in this way they could “solve problems”.

True, just now the arsonists are provided with problems. Their actions can be regarded by the investigating authorities at least as damage to someone else’s property out of hooligan motives. Or even as a sabotage or terrorist crime.

Psychiatrist Sergei Markelov believes that the Russians who tried to set fire to the military registration and enlistment offices became victims of the call centers of the Ukrainian TsIPSO. Moreover, it is women who most often fall for the bait of telephone scammers.

– If you look at the statistics already available, most often women go to the arson of military registration and enlistment offices. This is no coincidence. A woman, even if she is completely mentally healthy, is always many times more suggestible than a man. Women’s psychology is always in a state of anxiety, explains Markelov.

The expert is sure that scammers use this increased level of anxiety. And in the course are quite simple manipulations. True, in order to find the perfect victim, employees of such call centers have to call thousands of people every day.

Sergey Markelov told how the scheme of scammers works. When a potential victim picks up the phone, three to five phrases are enough – during this time she either breaks off the swindler’s hook, or falls for him. At the same time, a person is not able to understand that it is time for him to stop talking. If he is depressed, frightened, or under prolonged stress, he will most likely get caught. Next is a matter of technology. In five to seven phrases, a trigger is calculated – the main fear that gnaws at the victim. It can be a divorce, a loan, a son of military age or a mobilized husband. Anything that really worries a person. It is through this concern that the situation unwinds further. The trigger intensifies to the “cause to action” stage, says the expert:

– A person is given the installation: “Do something!”. But at the same time, the victim is not forced, relatively speaking, to go and set fire to the draft board. Instead, she is placed in a situation of false choice. The swindler says: “Of course, you can continue to sit and do nothing.” The second option is “You can write a statement somewhere, but you probably did this before, and it didn’t help.” The third option is formulated elegantly – “prove to the world that you are real,” – Sergey Markelov explains the tactics of scammers.

Swindlers use the technique of the so-called “false coercion”. They do not give direct commands to the victim. Instead, she gets the impression that she herself decided to commit a crime.

– During interrogations, such people always shake their heads when the investigator asks if someone forced them to commit a crime. They often say that no one forced them, and they decided everything themselves, – says Markelov. “Moreover, the victims of such scams experience “amnesia of choice.” They completely forget who called them, how long and what they talked about.

– This is a very powerful communication machine, very labor-intensive. To find one victim, you have to call at least a hundred people who are off the hook. That is, in order for 20 arsons to occur in a couple of days, professionally trained pick-up operators called two to three thousand people, the psychiatrist says.

Read also: The pensioner who tried to set fire to the draft board in Moscow took revenge on the fraudster