On September 1, 2026, the Prosecutor General's Office submitted to the Yerevan City Court of First Instance the materials of the criminal proceedings regarding the individuals who embezzled 1 billion 73 million 486 thousand drams from 59 citizens and attempted to embezzle 38 million 879 thousand drams from another 19 citizens.
The Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Armenia reports:
The criminal proceedings being investigated by the Investigative Committee revealed that foreign citizens M.Sh., M.M., A.P., a certain "Max" and other persons not identified during the investigation created and participated in the activities of a criminal organization from September 26, 2025 to April 21, 2026.
The members of the criminal organization, complementing each other's actions, developed a unified mechanism for committing fraud on a particularly large scale. In particular, in the “WhatsApp” and “Viber” applications, using the mobile phone numbers registered in their names of H.B., R.S., who supported the criminal organization, and their own names, they created fake accounts with the names and photos of people known to the public.
From these accounts, messages were sent to the acquaintances of these individuals stating that their acquaintance had problems with various state bodies, and that an employee of the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia would contact them in this regard.
Then, posing as employees of the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia under different names, including “Davit Ashot Oganesyan”, “Captain Vazgen Harutyunyan”, “Gurgen Levoni Simonyan”, “Vahan Seyrani Poghosyan” and “Arman Tigrani Sargsyan”, they called citizens, exerted psychological influence on them, created an atmosphere of fear and anxiety about alleged problems with financial resources, demanded to maintain confidentiality and follow the instructions of an employee of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia.
Then, posing as an employee of the Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia under the name “Davit Nikoyan”, they further strengthened the trust of the victims.
Continuing their criminal activities, the members of the criminal organization also posed as employees of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia under different names, presented false certificates and convinced citizens that in order to avoid possible problems, it was necessary to transfer the financial resources in their bank accounts to other, supposedly “safe” accounts.
The members of the criminal organization, acting with a single intention, stole a total of 1 billion 73 million 486 thousand drams from 59 citizens, and attempted to steal 38 million 879 thousand drams from 19 citizens.
A wanted list has been declared for M.M.
The part separated from the criminal proceedings, regarding M.Sh., A.P., H.B. and R.S., with an approved indictment, has been transferred to the competent court.
