A resident of Astana lost 1.8 million tenge after falling victim to a scam while trying to obtain a chess ranking, reports the website infohub.kz.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the suspect gained the victim's trust through a mutual acquaintance and offered to help obtain the sports ranking. He demanded 1.5 million tenge for his services. After receiving the payment, the scammer assured the victim that the matter was being handled, then under various pretexts extracted an additional 300,000 tenge. After receiving the full amount, he misled the victim for a long time by promising to resolve the issue before eventually cutting off contact.
Police identified the suspect and arrested him in another city before bringing him to Astana. A pre-trial investigation is underway to determine all the circumstances of the incident.
"The Astana Police Department urges citizens to remain vigilant and not to hand over money to individuals who promise to resolve matters through personal connections or guarantee the provision of certain services or documents," police said.