The “presidential assistant” scammed the disgraced deputy out of 2.5 million

HELP “MK”:

The country learned about regional deputy Maxim Vasiliev after his video recording of the New Year 2023 meeting in Mexico. At a beach table, the parliamentarian drank a cocktail, ate shrimp and congratulated his friends on the New Year in Spanish, wishing them “a lot of money and a lot of good mood.” The governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoyt, invited voters to draw conclusions regarding Vasiliev. Next, Andrei Turchak, Secretary of the General Council of United Russia, spoke in an even harsher manner. He considered the behavior of the regional deputy “the height of cynicism and inhumanity,” proposed to deal with him with “Wagner’s sledgehammer,” and hoped that “the ranks of Kursk deputies would thin out.” As a result, Vasiliev got off with a slight fright – he resigned from the post of deputy chairman of the committee on budget, taxes and economic development, but remained a member of the deputies.

“I got into a story with maximum hate and separation of me from all kinds of public projects,” deputy Maxim Vasiliev tells MK. – And such stories always have a scandalous topic for discussion, which scammers immediately take advantage of. And not just petty swindlers, but professionals who siphon money from vulnerable segments of the population and those who fall for such deceptions.

– How did they take advantage of you?

– One day, the chairman of the Kursk Regional Duma called me to his office: “This is the situation, Maxim Sergeevich: the presidential assistant, Mr. Shalkov, called me about you and demands that you contact him about your story.” The chairman added that the conversation should be kept secret and not communicate with anyone on this topic. Of course, I promised him to contact the “assistant to the president.” I understood that I had committed a crime and was fully prepared to bear the punishment for it. At that time, I had already resigned as deputy chairman of the committee.

They gave me a phone number and asked me to leave a message on WhatsApp. In response, “Shalkov” offered to call him back in 15 minutes. At the appointed time I dialed it. A rather hoarse, confident voice was heard on the phone: “Hello, Maxim Sergeevich. Well, tell me what happened there”…

I told him everything in detail, noting that I had not posted the ill-fated video online. To which “Shalkov” replied: “Oh, so you haven’t posted the video yet? I see… Well, yes, your governor is an idiot, and Turchak is already fed up, we have to take the rap for him. The situation is not easy, but we are keeping an eye on everyone. You are on our side – that’s clear. Now we will think about how to whitewash you. You will definitely go to Solovyov for the program, now we will agree on the topic, they will call you. I’ll give you the phone number of my assistant (later I rang her name, there’s definitely one in the AP structure). I’ll contact you again. Are you helping the SVO?

“Yes, I’m constantly in touch with the guys,” I answered the “presidential assistant.”

– Well, we are now collecting such a serious load from the AP, take part with us and your name will appear there, and then we’ll think about how to help you. Agreed, do you mind?

– Yes, I’m for it!

– Well, that’s it, we’ll contact you, thank you. “I’m just very busy right now,” the “presidential assistant” ended the conversation.

On the eve of the conversation with “Shalkov”, I studied all the information available about him. I found out that this is a former FSB general, one of the deputy leadership of the department. I was immediately alarmed by his manner of communication, given the fact that he called the governor an idiot and spoke unflatteringly towards Turchak. He scolded them, apparently expecting to receive support for his words from me. But I told him that they were normal men, I was just a little mistaken.

People who have risen to such a level in terms of the political hierarchy will probably not communicate with people like me, and if they do, they will conduct the conversation much more restrained. I became wary, returned to the Duma, went to the office, asked how this person contacted them: “Did they call from the AP reception”? They answered me: “Yes, there was a call, then from the president’s reception office and our leadership is in touch with him. This is definitely him.” Then I went to the head of the Duma, whom I asked, “Are we sure we’re not making mistakes? This all looks suspicious.”

When I had already left our Duma, I received a call on my phone from this comrade “Shalkov”:

– Maxim Sergeevich, you don’t believe that it was me who called you? Do you think you are being scammed?

– Yes, I don’t think anything, I just stopped by to clarify with the chairman.

– Don’t stop by to see the chairman, well, we’ve decided everything! You really surprise me. It seems like we are going to meet you, everything is serious, and you begin to find out something.

10 minutes pass, the Chairman of the Duma calls me and says, “Maxim, well, you’re wasting your time checking him. This is really the man. I don’t insist, but if he asks for some help, then you make the decision yourself, I don’t get involved in these matters at all – it’s an individual matter for everyone. But it’s him, you can be sure.”

In our first conversation and at the beginning of the correspondence on WhatsApp, the “assistant” invited me, as serious people, to chip in – hand over about 2.5 million rubles: “Can you handle it?”

– Well, if you need me to intercept you somewhere, I’ll pull you over.

“We just don’t have enough of this amount.”

– Maybe you can tell me what to buy? I have money on a legal entity, and the bank simply will not let such a large payment pass.

– Listen, we are collecting a huge package, we won’t figure it out later. I have an assistant, here is his card, transfer to it.

– The payment will not go through from the legal entity and will be stopped.

– You make the payment, tell me the payment number and which bank, the bank and I will decide. Everyone will miss it, don’t worry about that.

I decided to check the “presidential assistant” through a popular bot. This bot gave me information that his phone number was registered to some young guy living on Tverskaya Street in Moscow. After a while they call me back:

– Maxim, do you keep punching me? Do you really think that my phone will be registered in my name? – asked the angry “Shalkov”.

“From the very beginning, when I was told that you were looking for me, I decided to make inquiries through my assistant,” I answer him.

– Well, okay, don’t joke about it, let’s decide already!

– Yes, the bank simply won’t let such an amount pass through. “I have money in a legal entity,” I repeated my legend once again, stalling for time.

Suddenly I began to realize that this was a scam, most likely on the part of Ukraine. I thought that now I would end up in a story with financing of someone unknown. In the morning, I addressed this question to the local FSB department, where I told the whole situation. “Don’t show that you’re checking him, we’ll find out everything now,” and they offered to talk with “Shalkov” for two more days.

A couple of days later they reported that they had contacted me from the territory of Ukraine, presumably from the Kharkov region: “This is not an FSB officer or an assistant to the president.” I was offered to listen to his speech in the State Duma, I appreciated his manner, the timbre of his voice and realized that it was really not him.

Later I found out that the fraudster, hiding under the nickname “presidential assistant,” worked out the scheme not only with me, but also with all the deputies and public figures who fell under general indignation after public photographs of foreign holidays for the New Year. Some of these comrades have already transferred money to the scammers.

And now, when a similar story happened to the artists of the “almost naked” party, I am sure that the same savvy rogue who very competently framed everything in a conversation with me will easily catch the artists in his net. Considering the state of shock they are in, the stars will be willing to give anything to erase themselves from this story.

The fraudster is so competent that he can not only physically harm someone, but create problems for entire regions. Supposedly the scammer was scamming me from the Kharkov region.