Employees of the Bureau of Special Technical Operations (BTSM) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained administrators of telegram channels in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, who, according to law enforcers, extorted money for non-dissemination of compromising information (point «b» of part 3 of article 163 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the press service of the department.
According to the police, the detainees created a network of anonymous telegram channels about events in major Russian cities. Among the suspects are the digital director of a PR agency, the deputy head of a department of a state-owned enterprise, and a copywriter. Now they are in custody.
«To attract an audience, these resources received bright and» toxic » denominations. The published materials contained inaccurate information that discredited regional leaders and large entrepreneurs,” said Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk.
The security forces claim that the administrators of the telegram channels asked for money for a “block on the negative” — the non-proliferation of compromising information. The accounts of the detainees, according to the police, were registered on the SIM cards of mobile operators in Ukraine, Montenegro, Slovenia and Spain. During the searches, “cold” crypto wallet, money and equipment.
According to the Baza Telegram channel, among the detainees are the administrators of the Ufimskaya Marten, Lyapkin Tyapkin and Derzhimorda Telegram channels. An RBC source close to the Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed the information about the detention of the authors of Derzhimorda. Ufa Marten is currently unavailable, the last posts in the other two Telegram channels were published at the end of April.
In August, early and late October, the security forces reported on the detention and arrest of the creators of several Telegram channels, in which, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, “fake news” about top managers and high-ranking officials were published. According to the police, in order to remove compromising information, their administrators “offered the victims to transfer large sums of money using crypto wallets.”