Bat Yam Man Charged in Russian-Speaking Elder Scam That Targeted Seniors Across Israel

Central District prosecutors on Tuesday filed the first indictment in a growing fraud case against a 30-year-old Bat Yam resident accused of serving as a courier in a scam that preyed on elderly Russian-speaking women. Investigators say the group posed as state officials and stole cash and gold worth an estimated hundreds of thousands of shekels.

The case surfaced in early May after a woman in her 70s from Ariel reported receiving a call from two Russian speakers claiming to be from the Tax Authority and National Insurance Institute. She was pressured to hand over 82,000 shekels in cash and a large amount of gold to a driver sent to her home by taxi. Police in the Samaria district opened a covert investigation and later found a common pattern, older women from the former Soviet Union being tricked into believing they owed money to government agencies.

According to the indictment, the suspects told victims they had urgent debts to the authorities and would face trouble if they did not pay immediately. After arranging the meetings by phone, the Bat Yam suspect came to their homes and collected cash, jewelry, or both as supposed payment to settle a fictitious debt. The investigation expanded to central Israel, using technological and other covert methods, and on May 26 police arrested the Bat Yam defendant and a second suspect from Ariel in his 20s. Officers seized mobile phones believed to have been used in the fraud, along with evidence of the stolen cash and other property.

During questioning, the defendant admitted he understood the women were being deceived but continued because he was in financial trouble and owed money to the black market, police said. He also led investigators to a jewelry store in Ramat Gan, where he had sold the gold. When asked what all the victims had in common, he replied, “כולם קשישים רוסים, לשאלתך לא הייתה שם סבתא מרוקאית” (“They were all Russian seniors, to your question, there was no Moroccan grandmother there”). Police said the probe is still ongoing against other suspects.