The detentions came as part of a probe into large-scale fraud (Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code), the FSB said. The agency described those detained as "young people lacking sufficient financial literacy, seeking easy money."
According to the FSB, the exchange points' operations were "coordinated from abroad": citizens, including pensioners under the influence of fraudsters, were sold cryptocurrency that was then transferred to accounts of Ukrainian handlers. The FSB also detained accomplices of Ukrainian call centers, aged 18 to 25, who allegedly acted as couriers, collecting money from deceived citizens and handing it to crypto exchangers for onward transfer to Ukraine.
In a five-minute video released by the FSB, detainees said each exchange point served about 30 clients daily, with an average daily turnover of about 30 million rubles. The Telegram channel Baza reported that turnover could reach $1–2 million per day.
One video frame shows a young woman lying on the floor with a bag from the Mashuk knowledge center, an educational organization whose construction was approved by Vladimir Putin. In the video, she says she offered to cooperate with the FSB as an unpaid informant to "catch fraudsters." Another detainee said he received a phone call offering him a role as an unpaid FSB and Rosfinmonitoring informant, and now realizes the callers were Ukrainian fraudsters.
In late July, REN TV and the Telegram channel 112 reported on searches in Moscow City offices of the crypto exchange network "Federation Vostok" in a fraud case, in which a man identified as Vladimir R. allegedly transferred 144 million rubles to fraudsters posing as FSB officers. The Dossier Center claimed that a crypto exchanger linked to the family of State Duma deputy Andrei Lugovoi was located in the Federation complex.
The searches coincided with the legalization of the cryptocurrency market: Putin signed the law "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights." Most of the law takes effect on September 1, 2026, and from July 1, 2027, digital currency transactions must be conducted only through regulated intermediaries.