Underground business Ten Surprisingly Profitable Illegal Trades. Native land, forever beloved

The Ministry of Finance intends to submit to the government a proposal to expand the experiment on taxation of the self-employed to include regions with a high level of workers in the informal sector of the economy.

These are 13 territories, mostly southern - including Chechnya, Dagestan, Crimea. This is stated in the Ministry of Finance’s draft response to the government’s request about the future of the experiment, which Kommersant reviewed.

As follows from the text of the document sent for approval to the Ministry of Economy, the ministry, together with the Federal Tax Service, considered the issue of expanding the experiment from January 1, 2020.

According to the Federal Tax Service, in the five months since the start of the experiment, more than 106 thousand individuals registered as self-employed in four regions. In the meantime, the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service are receiving requests from citizens of constituent entities of the Russian Federation not participating in the experiment, as well as from local authorities, with a request to extend the pilot project to the self-employed and to them. The package of documents prepared for sending to the government contains letters from the governor of the Pskov region, the administrations of the Lipetsk and Kemerovo regions, the government of the Komi Republic and the Ministry of Caucasus.

The letter also provides data from Rosstat, according to which a high level of the informal sector of the economy falls on Chechnya (63.9%), Dagestan (55%), Ingushetia (49.2%), Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (41.3%), Northern Ossetia-Alania (37%), Crimea (34.8%), Altai (34%), Sevastopol (32%) and others. In addition, they talk about the need to include in the experiment the territories of the Far North, Trans-Baikal Territory (here the informal employment rate is 22.9%) and Tyva (26.9%).

The press service of the Ministry of Finance confirmed that “proposals are currently being worked on to expand the list of regions participating in the experiment to introduce a preferential tax regime for the tax on professional income (NPI) starting next year,” but noted that “it is still premature to talk about specific calculations and financing " In turn, the letter from the Federal Tax Service to the Ministry of Finance on the topic of expanding the experiment speaks of the possible extension of the NAP throughout the Russian Federation.

Microfinance organizations not included in the Central Bank register will be prohibited from demanding debts from the population. There is a conflict in the legislation that needs to be eliminated: issuing loans to unlicensed microfinance organizations is prohibited, but collecting funds is not.

The State Duma Committee on the Financial Market is preparing a corresponding bill, which will be adopted before the end of the year, its chairman Anatoly Aksakov told Izvestia. Amendments to the law “On microfinance activities and microfinance organizations” have already passed the first reading and are being prepared for the second.

Illegal microfinance organizations lend to the population at extremely high interest rates - 1000% per annum, although by law they do not have the right to issue loans at all. As a result, the debt quickly accumulates, and so-called black collectors are engaged in collecting it.

The Central Bank admits that “in the field of consumer loans, the activity of illegal lenders is high, and people who turn to them are almost guaranteed to become victims of fraud.” The regulator has developed a bill that strengthens sanctions for pseudo-microfinancers. If a company violates the law once, the fine will be 300-500 thousand rubles; in case of a repeat violation, the amount can be increased to 5 million rubles. The bill has already been submitted to the State Duma. Also, the committee of the lower house of parliament on the financial market is developing a bill that would introduce criminal liability for pseudo-microfinancers; the prison term is currently being discussed.

A group of deputies from United Russia introduced a bill to the State Duma proposing to significantly increase fines for illegal businessmen.

Currently, conducting business activities without state registration as an individual entrepreneur or legal entity is punishable by an administrative fine in the amount of 500 rubles to 2 thousand rubles.

The size of the sanctions has not changed since 2002, the explanatory note notes. Today they are lower than state fees for registration as an individual entrepreneur and a legal entity - 800 rubles and 4 thousand rubles, respectively. Therefore, illegal entrepreneurs have no incentive to come out of the shadows, since paying a small administrative fine seems more profitable.

The bill proposes to tighten sanctions for carrying out entrepreneurial activities without state registration as an individual entrepreneur or without state registration as a legal entity provided for by the Administrative Code: for the first time - from 5 to 10 thousand rubles, for repeated commission within a year - from 20 to 30 thousand rubles

Entrepreneurs are concerned about unscrupulous competitors - self-employed citizens who work illegally and do not pay taxes. This issue was raised at a meeting of the Head of the Primorsky Territory Andrei Tarasenko with businessmen of the Khasansky district, in which business ombudsman Marina Shemilina took part.

Khasansky district is the tourist mecca of Primorye, but, unfortunately, illegal business is thriving here. This in turn leads to higher taxes for bona fide entrepreneurs, since the municipality needs to increase budget revenues.

“Here I see three directions,” says Marina Shemilina. - First of all, we need to create conditions so that self-employed citizens can come out of the shadows. I mean a simplified form of both entering the market and being in this market. Secondly, local authorities need to be interested in creating equal competitive conditions for doing business. When the government allows an illegal field to operate, it thereby creates non-competitive conditions for legal business. The lack of funds in the budget forces the municipality to increase taxes and the burden on legal businesses, and I strongly urge local governments to first restore order, and, as the Head of Primorye said at a meeting with entrepreneurs, then there will be no need to increase land rental rates for legal businesses.”

Finally, according to the Ombudsman, it is important that citizens, including the self-employed, clearly understand that the well-being of their area depends, among other things, on the collection of taxes.

“The problem of illegal activities of self-employed citizens is an issue on the federal agenda,” explains Marina Shemilina. - On the initiative of the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs under the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yuryevich Titov, we propose to introduce a patent of 10-20 thousand rubles per year - a person pays and works, no declarations, no reporting. The head of Primorye supports this idea. Now the Government has announced a radically different approach to self-employed citizens: we are talking about a mobile application through which all payments will be made, and the entrepreneur will pay a percentage of the income. I should note that where there is a turnover tax, there must be control, and self-employed citizens may be put off by this. You also need to understand that in Primorye there are still areas that are difficult to reach in terms of communications. In a word, in my opinion, Boris Yuryevich Titov’s proposal for a fixed patent is the most effective,” said Marina Shemilina.

During a working trip to Crimea, the head of Opora Russia, Alexander Kalinin, called on Crimean businessmen who work without any registration to take care of the legal formalization of their relations with government agencies.

“I would now recommend that those who are doing business in Crimea without registering in any way should move into the legal field. Because, I think so, fines and administrative liability for those who conduct shadow business will be increased,” he said.

Alexander Kalinin predicts that next year the state will begin a systematic fight against entrepreneurs who operate without any registration. According to him, shadow entrepreneurship seriously distorts the market and creates a “headache” for legally operating businessmen.

“In Crimea, these are, for example, illegal hotels or illegal points of sale of alcohol. Therefore, at the upcoming State Council in the Kremlin at the end of the year, chaired by the President of Russia, the issue of strengthening administrative responsibility for illegal business will be considered,” the head of Opora Rossii emphasized.

In turn, the chairman of the Crimean branch of “Support of Russia” Sergei Lapenko noted that illegal business is indeed a serious problem, due to which Crimean entrepreneurs find themselves in unequal competitive conditions.

“Competition with illegal businessmen, especially against the backdrop of problems with the availability of credit resources, is especially acute. In addition, we have absolutely no need to compare with such businessmen, since we all take issues of good reputation seriously,” he said.

As part of control activities and the ongoing declaration campaign, Crimean tax specialists identified the activities of a large greenhouse farm that does not pay taxes. This was reported by the press service of the regional Department of the Federal Tax Service.

During the raid, carried out jointly with law enforcement agencies, it was established that vegetables were being grown on an area of ​​20 thousand square meters. Land plot over 2 hectares issued to the head of the administration of one of the rural settlements Saki district, which, under a free use agreement, transferred this plot and the greenhouse complex on it to an individual entrepreneur for the purpose of running a personal subsidiary plot. Despite the fact that a complex economy is operating on the site and new greenhouse premises are being built, the individual entrepreneur stated that she carries out this activity independently, without resorting to hired paid labor. An inspection of the auxiliary premises revealed the presence of personal belongings and sleeping places of workers whose labor was allegedly being used without obtaining the appropriate documents. Some farm workers who appeared were also interviewed and refused to provide any documents or explanations.

During communication with tax authorities, the individual entrepreneur also admitted that last year the products produced were sold for cash without the use of cash registers and were not reflected in the tax reporting for 2016. According to the entrepreneur, she does not have her own funds for the development of the economy, money for construction and expenses given by the owner of the land plot.

Based on the results of the audit, the use of unregistered hired labor was established without payment of wages, payment of personal income tax and insurance contributions. An individual entrepreneur will be forced to pay taxes.

Nothing is said on the website of the Federal Tax Service about the measures taken against the owner of the land, who is most likely the real owner of the illegal farm.

It's no secret that illegal business is thriving nowadays. Drug trafficking alone accounts for a huge sector of the collective black market economy, accounting for $600 billion annually - approximately 70 percent of the income of all criminal organizations in the world. In addition, approximately one and a half trillion dollars in drug profits are laundered through legal businesses every year, amounting to approximately 5 percent of the Earth's gross domestic product. If five percent doesn't seem like a lot, consider that we're talking about money received every year around the world, and it's not a drop in the bucket.

Among other branches of the global criminal industry, you can find some very unusual black markets - some of them seem like urban legends, others involve trading in completely legal services, and in total they make incredible amounts of money for the share of each criminal involved. Below are ten of the strangest illegal trades.

10. Primates

Many wildlife species suffer from poaching and illegal trade, but primates, especially chimpanzees and orangutans, are among the most commonly abducted, for a variety of reasons. Not only are they stolen and sold for food in some countries (yes, some people eat them), they are often used in biomedical research as test subjects, and are also sold as pets to the entertainment industry. Despite the fact that thousands of primates are legally imported into the United States every year, mainly for research purposes, which in itself is quite reprehensible - about 3,000 more monkeys are stolen and sometimes acquired legally, even if the means by which they were caught, against the law.

In fact, the United States is one of the few countries where keeping hominids, or great apes, is legal. Just over 100 great apes are kept as pets in the United States. In Indonesia, exactly where poachers operate, as punishment for keeping such monkeys, they simply slap the hands, and the animal itself, as a rule, is simply taken away.

This is a big part of the problem - according to a recent UN report, since 2005, more than 22,000 monkeys have been lost either to poaching or because they died in the process of poaching. During all this time, as many as 27 arrests related to poaching were made in Africa and Asia, and less than a quarter of the people detained were brought to justice. It's no surprise that monkey poaching makes up a huge portion of the illegal wildlife trade, bringing in more than $10 billion every year.

9. Timber


While the legal timber industry has long sought to reduce its recognized potential for environmental damage, the illegal version of the industry has become an incredibly widespread problem. According to statistics, in the United States alone, the amount of lost revenue from illegal tree cutting is $1 billion annually. In countries such as Brazil and Peru, approximately 80 percent of all timber production is illegal. Economic losses worldwide amount to approximately $10 billion per year, and this is only the monetary impact of illegal tree felling.

Obviously, illegal timber production is not subject to government oversight rules designed to protect the environment and minimize damage in areas that need protection. Clear-cutting is one of the leading causes of global climate change and recent research has shown the very real possibility that tropical forest wildlife could be driven to the brink of extinction within the next hundred years by illegal logging and global climate change. But even more alarming is the fact that the illegal timber industry not only does not reduce its turnover, but even tries to compete with other branches of the illegal trade, such as, for example, the drug trade. If you imagine bags of cocaine transported in the trunks of illegally felled trees, then the picture is correct.

Illegal timber accounts for approximately 30 percent of the global timber trade and generates approximately $10–15 billion annually for criminal organizations involved in the trade.

8. Organs


If this sounds a little far-fetched or like something out of a horror movie, you'll be surprised to know that organ trafficking is very real - and a huge business.

The vast majority of illegally removed organs are kidneys, since a person only needs one to survive. Some desperate "donors" agree to an illegal operation for as little as $5,000, and equally desperate patients pay forty or fifty times that amount for a kidney - about $200,000 or more. This phenomenon is widespread in Middle Eastern and Asian countries such as the Philippines, India and Pakistan - they have very rich markets. China actually sells the organs of executed prisoners, and is the only country in the world that does so. China executes approximately 4,500 prisoners every year, and many experts say these executions are carried out specifically to harvest organs.

While many people are willing to give up their organs for cash, many others are tricked into organ harvesting operations or forced to undergo unnecessary surgeries in which their organs are harvested without their knowledge. Recent studies by the World Health Organization have shown that the number of illegal transactions reaches up to 10,000 per year, making this a potentially multi-billion dollar illegal industry on the black market.

7. Snake skin


The trade in python skins is supposedly very tightly controlled. The number of these animals is constantly decreasing, and the demand for their skins is constantly growing, especially in Europe, where the demand for designer bags and shoes made from python skin has increased dramatically in recent years. Even in California, where sales of python skins and parts have been illegal since 1970, snakeskin clothing items can still be purchased at some upscale boutiques. Apparently, some traders either deliberately ignore the law or are not actually aware of it.

Unfortunately, the use of skin from illegally killed animals brings a lot of money to those involved in this trade, and this thriving criminal business threatens to outgrow the legal trade in the skin of these animals. Although regulations exist to combat the illegal trade in python skins and, if followed, would be very effective, in most regions where poaching is rampant, these regulations are ignored. As silly as it may seem, this business thrives in large part due to people's perception of snakes as not-so-nice creatures. However, they are one of the most important parts of their ecosystems, and their extermination now could lead to their complete extinction.

Believe it or not, the annual trade in python skins is approximately a billion dollars worldwide, with half or more than half of this income coming from the illegal trade, and criminal organizations taking more and more of this income every year.

6. Sperm


This is a very recent phenomenon, however, online sales of human sperm have skyrocketed in recent years. And while this may seem fairly harmless, and even beneficial, for those who are having trouble conceiving, there are serious complications that lawmakers have failed to adequately address.

Legitimate sperm donors undergo strict tests to minimize genetic defects, health problems and the like. The main problem with individuals simply selling their sperm directly to buyers is the apparent lack of control, since the vast majority of "donors" are not medically tested and the recipients have no way of knowing what they are getting. Not to mention the thousands of infectious diseases that are transmitted through human sperm, and this is no longer a joke.

Although there are some laws regulating the sale of sperm or eggs, many websites that have emerged recently are very difficult to prosecute - they operate under the guise of social networks or dating sites that simply introduce people to each other and get paid for it. fee. Calculating the global profit of this industry for the year is not at all easy. One couple of British men were able to sell their sperm to 800 women and make over a quarter of a million pounds within a few years by offering this type of service to women.

5. Abalone or abalone


Abalones are edible sea snails known as "pargo snapper" in Australia and "reef king" in New Zealand. They are a delicacy in these regions, as well as in Chile, France and several Asian countries. Regulations governing their collection are few or non-existent almost everywhere except in South Africa, which is where the problem lies.

Seafood is a major part of the South African industry and abalone is the most expensive product produced by the industry. In 1995, 615 tonnes of abalone were harvested in South Africa, but by 2008 the harvest had dropped sharply to 75 tonnes, and the South African government imposed a ban on abalone fishing that year, fearing the population would be completely wiped out. The incredible drop in population size in such a short period of time is almost entirely due to illegal fishing, which in turn has had an impact on the South African economy.

Population declines have been just as severe, if not worse, in Northern California and other abalone-producing regions where illegal trade has flourished. Authorities have begun imposing hefty fines, up to $40,000, on sellers of illegal shellfish, but because illegal shellfish harvesting has proven so lucrative, it has been nearly impossible to stop. Despite the fact that there is no exact data on the amount of profit from the illegal trade, it can be said with certainty that the price of red abalone reaches up to one hundred dollars per piece.

4. Bear organs


Black bear gall bladders, and the bile that is extracted from them, are widely used and have been used in Asian medicine for centuries. Bear bile is supposedly a panacea for all diseases, from ophthalmic diseases to cancer and AIDS, and “supposedly” is used here because medical research has clearly shown that bear bile does not have any medicinal properties. Despite this, the illegal trade in this product continues - and its scale is simply amazing.

Not only are bears hunted to remove their gall bladders and other body parts, but many Asian countries are home to illegal "bear farms" that look as gruesome as they sound. The bears are kept in small pens, fed irregularly and not allowed to hibernate. Their bile is constantly "milked" surgically, and after a certain period of time they are killed and their gallbladder is removed.

What's incredible is that even though this deplorable activity is completely illegal, selling the products it produces is completely legal in many markets, including the US, New York. It was recently discovered that 20% of markets that sell Asian products openly sell bile and gall bladders from bears. The illegal trade in bear parts generates a staggering $2 billion in revenue each year.

3. Caviar


Most of us know two things about caviar: first, it is very expensive and second, it is a fish egg that rich people love to eat. While the idea of ​​black market caviar seems a little silly, the trade has serious consequences - mainly on the global sturgeon population, which has declined by 90 percent since 1970 due to overfishing.

A global ban on wild caviar (as opposed to caviar from farmed sturgeon) imposed in the mid-2000s did not have the desired effect of protecting the population, and may have actually encouraged increased sales of caviar on the black market. In 2006, the Pew Institute for Ocean Science called sturgeon "the world's most endangered wildlife resource."

The sad thing is that sturgeon have lived on our planet for 200 million years, outliving the dinosaurs with whom they once shared the planet, but this phenomenon poses a serious threat to their continued existence. Of course, the demand for caviar is here to stay, but with an illegal trade worth three-quarters of a billion dollars a year, wild sturgeon may soon become extinct.

2. Liquor smuggling


In many Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries where alcohol is still banned or tightly controlled, markets for surrogate alcohol products are thriving. Some of the consequences, as well as some of the measures taken by the government to crack down on illegal liquor, are enough to boggle the minds of those of us who are used to having a glass of wine with dinner or a couple of beers with friends as a matter of course.

In countries like Iran and Iraq, where liquor is illegal, producing alcohol carries dozens of lashes along with the standard fines and prison sentences. However, despite this, the market for smuggled alcoholic beverages is booming so much that smugglers believe that the game is worth the candle. Moreover, the demand for alcohol in these countries is so high that the Iranian factories that produce alcohol were actually forced by the government to add a substance to it that makes the alcohol too bitter, which just proved once again that people who want to get drunk will do anything. risks to do this.

This trend is most horrifyingly reflected in two recent cases of mass deaths caused by smuggled liquor in the Czech Republic (20 killed, dozens poisoned) and India (102 dead). Again, accurate annual profit data is difficult to collect due to poor reporting in these countries. However, for example, in the US state of Virginia, where alcohol is completely legal, according to statistics, up to 20 million dollars are lost due to whiskey smuggling and this is just the tip of a huge iceberg.

1. Newborn babies


In terms of global annual revenue, human trafficking ranks only second only to the illegal drug trade. Nearly three-quarters of this trade is for what you might expect - sex, and much of the rest is slave labor, but black market adoptions are also slowly becoming a serious problem. In addition to unlicensed adoption agencies, as you might expect, there have been cases of adoptive parents simply selling legally adopted children for profit.

These markets tend to be unconnected but isolated and opportunistic - as is the case in southern Brazil, home to large numbers of blue-eyed and blond-haired descendants of German immigrants. This area of ​​Brazil is a kind of farm to meet the demand for just such children coming from Western countries. In Russia and other Eastern European countries, black adoption markets arose for the same reason as in Brazil - the demand for white, light-eyed children, but in China there is simply an excess of girls. They turn a blind eye to their adoption, since such a number of girls are not needed for cultural and political reasons.

These types of black markets, while seemingly well-intentioned, also help enrich criminal organizations that engage in a variety of illegal activities. And, despite the fact that trafficking in newborn babies is only part of illegal human trafficking, the total profit from this trade brings criminal organizations about $32 billion.

In this article I would like to touch upon such a topic as illegal business ideas. Of course, this is in no way a guide to action, but information about what types of business you should never engage in.

Drug trafficking

The sale of such a potion cannot, in principle, be legal. And it doesn’t matter whether we are talking about heavy synthetic drugs or “harmless” smoking mixtures. At the same time, the illegal drug business includes everything: sales, cultivation, manufacturing or transportation.

Body trade

Even taking into account the fact that prostitution is one of the oldest professions, it should not be used as an example. Interestingly, many countries have found an interesting way to combat body trafficking - legalizing prostitution. This happened in India, Guatemala, Singapore, Bangladesh and even in Italy, Germany, Canada, Latvia and Belgium.

Production of fake documents

Unfortunately, this is a very common “business” in our country. They can do anything for money: a passport, a diploma, a certificate, an ID. In Russia, several high-profile cases of such illegal business are uncovered every year.

Trade in smuggled caviar

According to supervisory services, illegal caviar trafficking accounts for 90% of all production. Unfortunately, this leads to the fact that, most likely, our grandchildren will know about black or red caviar only from the stories of their grandparents or parents.

Counterfeit

Now every second person wears haute couture clothes

Today, most mobile phones, DVDs, clothing, shoes and accessories are counterfeits. Is it possible to buy a suit from Dolce & Gabbana for 30,000 rubles or an iPhone for 10,000? Of course not, but I really want to. Therefore, in our country, 90% of all such products are labeled “MadeinChina”.

Gambling

Another “drug” of modern humanity

Gambling for many is an important part of their lifestyle. Therefore, as long as there are people who love and want to gamble (and what’s interesting is that losing doesn’t stop them), more underground gaming clubs and casinos will open in which indecently large amounts of money are being circulated.

Human trafficking

Or scientifically, “trafficking” is an illegal business activity in any case. This could include organ harvesting for donation, forced labor or sexual slavery. There are agencies in Russia that recruit people abroad.

We hope that this TOP 7 illegal business ideas attracted your attention for informational purposes only. It is worth understanding that all of the above ideas are a direct path to prison, because... every such “business” is strictly punishable by law according to the Criminal Code.

Today there are many opportunities to implement a legitimate business with the possibility of obtaining a stable and high income.

What do you think about such illegal business ideas? Perhaps you have heard about any other types of activities that are opposed by law? Let's discuss together what types of businesses can be classified as illegal.

As the planet's population has increased, and resources, on the contrary, have decreased, competition has arisen between different nations, or more precisely, people. They had to fight for their rights, food and well-being. Illegal methods were also used in this fight, which was the beginning of the development of dubious business around the world. In today's world, which has become a global village, there are still many professions that are illegal. The following is a list of the ten most dubious types of businesses in the world with a brief description.

1. Bribery

Bribery is also an illegal act that is ethically unacceptable. Unfortunately, bribery is currently present in almost all spheres of public life.

2. Human trafficking (trafficking)

Trafficking in persons is most often carried out for the purpose of sexual and labor exploitation, as well as the removal of organs and tissues for transplantation. Trafficking is a fairly lucrative industry with a turnover of $32 billion per year; The annual turnover of the entire “black market,” according to experts, is $650 billion.

There are many different opinions about how big the human trafficking industry in general and sex slavery in particular are. It is estimated that 27 million people in the world today are enslaved. In 2008 State The US department provided data that about 2 million children around the planet are subjected to sexual exploitation. That same year, a study found that 12.3 million people worldwide were “forced laborers or victims of forced labor.” and sex trafficking."

3. Porn industry

(Castings)

Attention! Information ONLY FOR BEAUTIFUL GIRLS! Soon there will be a porn casting in Moscow for the right to participate in luxurious filming in Ibiza. I'm sure you'll like it. Casting will also be generously paid.

Most people are not considered pornography is a crime, but recent studies have shown that its consequences are much more serious and terrible than we can imagine.

Pornography is one of the most questionable types of business. In America they are looking at her essentially as freedom of expression, which is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The controversial nature of pornography stems from many aspects. Research shows that watching “not for children” films increases the number of crimes of a sexual nature in society, and also affects human health, as it can lead to problems in sexual life and mental disorders.

Most people believe that prostitution and pornography have a lot in common. The only noticeable difference between the two is that pornography is filmed and aimed at a general audience.

4. Internet data leak

Modern life is impossible without the Internet. However, along with many beneficial aspects, the World Wide Web also carries negative consequences, for example: an increase in the number of cybercrimes, the most serious of which is data leakage.

Just like in real life, there are also thieves, spies and secret agents on the Internet. They steal information and then use it for illegal purposes, such as selling your personal information online to other people. This includes information about your debit/credit cards, bank accounts, email addresses, passwords, files on your hard drive, and more. It is known that in the illegal collection of information about Internet users Major companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook are involved.

5. Prostitution

Prostitution is not only one of the oldest professions, but also the most dubious business in the world, which consists in providing sexual services in exchange for money or other valuables.

According to official estimates, the number of full-time prostitutes in a typical American neighborhood is 23 per 100,000 people (0.023%), of which 4% are minors. Their work experience averages five years. In Amsterdam, every thirty-fifth resident works as a prostitute, in London - every three hundredth. The number of men involved in this industry varies widely from country to country: for example, In Great Britain this figure is 9%, and in Cambodia - as much as 80%.

6. Forgery of documents

Another, no less dubious business is the forgery of documents: diplomas, certificates, passports, identity cards, etc. Forgery of documents is widely practiced in underdeveloped countries due to lack relevant laws. The most important and serious consequence of document falsification is an increase in crime, both within the country and internationally level.

7. Smuggling of human organs

Smuggling of human organs is a crime against all humanity. Many countries have laws prohibiting organ trafficking.

8. Cigarette production


In many countries, the production of cigarettes is not considered a crime, although in fact it is, since cigarettes contain components that cause great harm to human health. There are not many countries in the world where this business is considered illegal.

9. Drug smuggling

The illicit drug trade is a global black market that includes the cultivation, production, distribution and sale of narcotic drugs.

Drugs are human killers. Almost every country has laws aimed at combating smuggling. and dissemination drugs, but how effective they are is another question.

10. Child trafficking

Child trafficking includes the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of children for the purpose of exploitation. This is probably the most shady business in the world, as well as a serious crime.

Child trafficking takes many forms, including forcing a child into prostitution and other sexual activities (child pornography, for example). This also includes forced labor or services, organ removal, illegal international adoption, slavery, trafficking for the purpose of early marriage, recruitment of children as soldiers, begging, etc.

"Profile"

Native land, forever beloved

Moreover, they earn money regularly - every evening by going to the panel, dressing up as beggars, breaking down someone else's door. For us, all these underground people are exotic. Sometimes even shrouded in a haze of romanticism: for a Russian person with a higher education, any prostitute is, first of all, Sonechka Marmeladova. But, we repeat, for millions of Russians, dubious, from the point of view of law and morality, earnings are not a fun and dangerous adventure, but ordinary work. “I went to work” - this is how these people approach their profession. And in a sense, they are right: what is work if not a source of regular income?

"Profile" decided to conduct a study: which craft among these millions of gentlemen and ladies ("either a lady or a lady," as in the old joke) of luck is considered the most profitable and prestigious? We were interested: for what money do people go into illegal business? And do “anti-professions” really guarantee high earnings? Do we need spiritual inclinations for this, or are people driven only by the thirst for profit?

The list of “professions” (from now on we will write this word without quotation marks) turned out to be small: repeat thieves, thieves in law, counterfeiters, racketeers, killers, prostitutes, beggars, scammers, computer burglars (hackers), plastic thieves. Total ten.

Many of these professions are as old as time (theft, prostitution, begging, fraud, making counterfeit money). As a rule, this is where the most regular income comes in. A professional can do the same thing for years, and his income will depend mainly on his diligence. No special education is required here. Yes, in fact, you don’t need any education at all. These professions involve the exploitation of one's own body and require purely physical skills. They are not punished very harshly by law (with the exception of counterfeiters).

During perestroika, we had killers and racketeers. People engage in these dangerous activities, usually in order to make a fortune and enter into a less dangerous business.

Other professions generated by technological progress have appeared quite recently (computer burglars - “hackers” and plastic thieves). These professions require special training, higher education, imagination and cunning.

Let us note right away: in every business there are professionals, beginners and amateurs. Everyone takes the same risks, but the police often fall into the hands of amateurs. For example, professional killers, whose training takes 2-3 years, are almost elusive. And two Moscow teenagers who killed her husband on the order of a woman for $14 were caught right away.

So, when compiling the anti-rating, we took into account the number of permanently employed, the number of periodically employed people, income - on average for the year and maximum from one operation, duration of professional activity, age restrictions, degree of risk and maximum sentences. When calculating points, we took into account all positive factors separately and negative ones separately. The plus was the annual income ($10 thousand - 1 point) and the opportunity to feed on this craft for a long time (1 year - 1 point). On the minus side are the maximum sentences (1 year - minus 1 point) and the degree of risk in points according to our experts.

The higher the score, the more stable and secure income the craft provides. The lower, the greater the risk the criminal takes when earning money, and the more random his earnings.

The editors would like to thank the following departments of the Main Department of Internal Affairs (GUVD) of Moscow for their assistance in preparing the material: the public relations center, the department for combating economic crimes, the morality police, the department for ensuring public safety, the MUR, as well as the regional department for combating organized crime, Department of Information and Press of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Criminal Chronicle" Leonid Sharov.

Minister without portfolio

1. THIEF IN LAW

In any case, it is better to be the boss. It is not surprising that the top ten most antisocial professions are headed by the thief in law, around whom everything in the criminal world revolves. Everyone else works for the thief in law: beggars, ordinary thieves, prostitutes, swindlers, counterfeiters, racketeers, killers. (For more information about thieves' professions, see Criminal Empire). And many, many others - arms and drug dealers, owners of casinos, restaurants, hotels, etc., etc. A thief in law is the head of a huge diversified concern, a minister without portfolio.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 50 groups led by thieves in law are constantly operating in the capital and Moscow region. In total there are about 300 of them in Russia.

The romantic image of a lone wolf, opposing himself to society, living only by theft and marking his trips to the zone with tattoos, has sunk into oblivion. Today you can become a thief in law without even having ever been “in the zone.” A thief in law is a respectable businessman. Maybe he once started out as a petty swindler or bandit, but thanks to luck, and perhaps talent, he “grew” to high ranks. Now he is the legal owner of bars, restaurants, hotels, and casinos. Invests money in oil companies, aluminum smelters, banks.

He is friends with high-ranking government officials and famous artists and enters the homes of the political and business elite. Lives in luxurious mansions (not only in the Moscow region, but also in Israel, Switzerland, Florida), drives the most expensive cars.

These are mostly people between 40 and 50 years old. Pavel Zakharov (Pasha Tsirul), who died in the hospital a year ago at the age of 59, can be considered a long-liver. Thieves in law often die in inter-group fights. Many were killed during the mafia war of 1993-1996. Some are put behind bars, but even from there they run their empires.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the average income of a thief in law is about $2 million a year. Vyacheslav Ivankov (nicknamed Yaponchik), arrested and convicted in the United States, paid his three lawyers a thousand dollars an hour during the trial. Thieves in law open joint ventures abroad and banks in Moscow, control the supply of gasoline and oil... The list could go on for a long time.

Ilyich’s cause lives and wins

2. Although by a colossal margin, beggars follow thieves in law.

Even Kisa Vorobyaninov, despite his blatant mediocrity, succeeded in this matter when it got hot.

Not a profession - a goldmine. On average, a beggar collects about a thousand rubles in four to six hours of work. You can beg at any age - from a young age (“Our mother died, give us food”) to old age (“Give it, good people, we have nothing to bury our husband with”).

In 1999, about 86 thousand beggars were detained in Moscow - the mayor gave orders to deal with them, but there is no law providing for any punishment for beggars. And what can you do if people give their money to the poor completely voluntarily?

Of the 86 thousand beggars, 4 thousand are Muscovites, 1 thousand are residents of the Moscow region, 8 thousand came to work from other Russian cities. The rest are our former compatriots, mainly from Ukraine (29%), Tajikistan (18%), Moldova (14%), Azerbaijan (12%) and Belarus.

Most of the beggars are men. There are 85% of them. Half are people of full working age, from 31 to 60 years. Elderly people (over 60) make up about 10%. 50% of female beggars are young - from 18 to 30 years old.

There are “organized” and “unorganized” beggars. The first ones, as a rule, are provincials. Muscovites, on the contrary, prefer to work independently.

"Organized" beggars have an owner. He recruits them (some are lured by deception, promising a profitable job, others agree to begging voluntarily). In Moscow they are provided with housing (eight to ten people live in an apartment). They feed. If necessary, they will bring a doctor to your home. They are delivered by car to the place of work and taken home. The passports of those who have them are taken away so that they do not escape.

In general, this is not a new matter. In the 70s of the last century, a certain Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, the namesake of the future leader of the revolution, lived in the city of Simbirsk. He built a house in which he gave the beggars who worked for him lodging for the night, fed them, killed the richest and most obstinate, took the money, and lowered the corpses down a special chute into the Volga.

Of the daily thousand, the modern owner takes most of it. The tramp is left with 15-20% - about 150 rubles. A month comes out to four to five thousand. For the CIS countries, where beggars come from and where they send money to loved ones, these are colossal amounts.

All intersections in the capital are occupied by “organized” beggars. According to an unspoken agreement between the police and the “owners,” beggars work mainly outside the Boulevard Ring. One of the most profitable places, for example, is the intersection at the Yauz Gate, where “disabled Afghans” or “participants of the Chechen war” work. The other is at the Rizhsky station on Suschevsky Val - there are little ragamuffins walking along long rows of cars standing in a traffic jam. In underground passages and the metro there are usually “children whose mother died” or women collecting “for a child’s operation.” Until recently, “refugees” from various “hot spots” of the CIS walked along the subway cars. But now this image has apparently become irrelevant and does not generate income.

“Unorganized” beggars are, as a rule, Muscovites. They work alone. Unlike visiting homeless people, they cannot be detained even for violating the passport regime. They have registration, a house, and a family, which they support well. These people do not share with anyone and receive their thousand a day “clean”. They say that one beggar paid for a nanny for his child. However, it is becoming more and more difficult for them: they are being forced out of profitable places by “organized” beggars, or more precisely, by their owners.

It is well known: beggars are good artists and masters of disguise. Eldar Ryazanov in “Promised Heaven” illustrated this perfectly. Almost all of them put on makeup when going to work. The scary stump that gets shaken while crossing may turn out to be a healthy arm or leg. Although self-harm is common among beggars. In some clinics in the capital or Moscow region, for one and a half to two million, they can cut off a healthy leg or arm at the request of its owner.

There are also real cripples in Moscow - invalids from the Afghan and Chechen wars. These people also live on alms. But you can’t call them professional beggars, if only because they... don’t ask for anything. They sit in a passage or subway on their piece of newspaper and don’t even look at the people passing by. You immediately understand that there is real grief here. That’s why they are served much more generously. The owners of “organized” beggars do not touch them. (Also see Beggary, Beggars for export, Who holds the porch, Deaf mafia, Businessmen in rags, Beggars named after Kutuzov)

"Raspberry" is over

3. THIEVES.

Heirs of Ostap Bender

5. SCAM.

Therefore, there are many more Muscovites among them. Visitors work mainly at train stations and with a very simple public. (Although this is not always the case. In 2000, employees of the internal affairs bodies exposed an organized criminal group of scammers from Lugansk, “working” in the center of Moscow, whose specialty was “throwing away” pensioners. See “Anatomy of a scam.” A. Zakharov)

There are no statistics on such crimes - it is almost unthinkable to be caught committing fraud. We can only say approximately: there are about 150 thousand scammers in the capital. To catch a fraudster, you need a combination of a number of unfavorable circumstances for him (he made a mistake, the victim noticed the deception in time, a police officer was nearby). He is punished with a fine of 20 rubles or imprisonment for up to 10 years, if this act is committed on an especially large scale and by a group.

But, as a rule, the deceived victim comes to his senses when there is no trace of the scammer. Our experts assessed the risk of this profession as only 3 points.

Fraud occurs at any age - both teenagers and old people. But respectable-looking middle-aged men have a better chance, because the main thing in this matter is to inspire the client’s trust. Either everyone invents a deception technique themselves, or adopts it from older friends or relatives. Fraud can be done part-time - in your free time from your main job. Fraudsters are often quite respectable ordinary people, with families, cars and dachas. The police believe that the average monthly income of a fraudster is about one and a half thousand dollars.

As a rule, a fraudster has a favorite area of ​​work - of course, not the one where he lives. The “stranger” may well settle down in the same territory, because he also acts secretly from prying eyes, and the “owner” of the site does not notice the stranger. In any case, showdowns on this basis are extremely rare.

Artists from the words "bad" "

6.COIN COUNTERS.

This is one of the oldest criminal professions, and has existed since the advent of money.

The state has always severely punished the production of fakes. In ancient Russia, they poured molten lead down their throats, cut off their arms and legs, drowned them in an ice hole, and sent them to eternal hard labor.

In Soviet times and in current Russian legislation, manufacturing or selling counterfeit securities was punishable by fifteen years in prison or the death penalty (fortunately for professionals, counterfeiting American dollars is punishable by only two years). For comparison: in the USA, 15 years in prison or a fine, in Belgium - from 15 to 20 years, in Japan - lifelong hard labor.

There are few real professionals who issue large quantities of money - no more than 500 people, and they are united in “creative teams”. Entire factories of counterfeit rubles operate in Poland, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Iran, and China. Counterfeiters very rarely fall into the hands of the law - our experts rated their professional risk as only 1 point.

The police arrest mainly small people - couriers, dealers (they are often gypsies, homeless people), as well as single amateurs. In total, 8.7 thousand people were arrested for these crimes in 1996, and approximately the same number in 1997. Experts believe that this is only a fifth of people involved in the money counterfeiting business. In total there are about 44 thousand people in the capital.

A counterfeiter is a respectable man in the street. He can have a legal permanent job, a house, a family, and at night he can paint banknotes.

The most famous counterfeiter of our time is considered to be the Stavropol driver of Mikhail Gorbachev. During the day he drove the first secretary of the Stavropol regional party committee, and at night he made money. This man was fluent in the art of engraving, and his banknotes surprised experts with the highest quality of printing. The Stavropol Lefty did everything himself, and distributed his money himself. They were discovered in 68 cities of the USSR. And he was caught in 1977 in Cherkessk at the collective farm market. During interrogation, he said exactly how much money he managed to produce in two years: 1,249 bills of 25 rubles and 46 of 50 rubles for a total of 33,545 rubles. In other words, 25 rubles a day, 750 a month. That was a lot of money in those days. They gave him 12 years.

In the 90s, the profession of counterfeiter became widespread. Now all you have to do is study the instructions for your multifunctional photocopier and print an unlimited number of banknotes of any denomination. Counterfeiters entered into a competition with the government to produce paper money. The 50 thousand ruble banknotes of the 1993 model were especially easy to counterfeit. Banknotes of various denominations worth 265 million rubles were seized from one group of counterfeiters discovered in 1996.

Old-style 100-dollar bills are also counterfeited, but this is usually done by international groups that obtain special paper for dollars in the USA or Latin American countries.

Today, the income of professional counterfeiters can be estimated on average at about 200-300 thousand per year (approximately from $3.5 thousand to $5 thousand per month). On average, they practice this craft for five years - until they accumulate an amount sufficient to invest in a legal business.

Knife and ax workers

The racketeering was given impetus by the 1987 Cooperation Law. Money appeared in the country - and, accordingly, people controlling this money.

Racketeering is classified by the Criminal Code as extortion. This is the lowest rung of a criminal career - starting with racketeering, you can “rise” to thief in law. This is pure crime and a very dangerous business: some of the racketeers either die (35%) or fall into the hands of the police (15%). Despite the fact that racketeering is quite a lot of money, in the long run it is not profitable to engage in it.

Now there are about 100 thousand racketeers in Russia. The racketeer is a strong “muscle” from 20 to 27 years old. They go into racketeering after serving in the army. They do this for a maximum of 3-4 years. Until they killed or imprisoned. Or until they save up a large sum to engage in a less dangerous activity.

This work does not require special training, skill or developed intelligence. Like prostitutes and beggars, racketeers make money with their bodies. For them, the body is a tool for making money.

There are few newcomers among the racketeers. The “brothers”, as a rule, control the area in which they themselves live.

Among the racketeers there are “amateurs” who just want to make extra money. But more often this is done by “professionals”. Among them are former employees of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The most common type of racketeering is the well-known “roof”. "Roof" takes little money, usually 10% of the profit, which is generally not burdensome for a businessman. But often the “roof” introduces its people into the company and receives commercial information, which is then used by lawyers and economists attracted by the group, participating in the commercial or production sphere of the company. It is very difficult to prove such extortion, because everything is based on oral agreements. The racketeers receive money for the entire group. On average, a “brother” earns $4-5 thousand a month.

Another type of racketeering is debt collection. This is an irregular job - my brother does it three or four times a year. One of the most common methods in this case is kidnapping. However, they also engage in kidnapping for the sake of receiving a large ransom.

Previously, we only knew about kidnapping from American films. Since 1989, this type of crime has appeared in our country. It was necessary to create a new department at the MUR, from which the Regional Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (RUOP) later grew.

In the USA, kidnapping is punishable by long prison terms. Our laws are more liberal and separate kidnapping for ransom from false imprisonment. The range of penalties is very wide - from a fine to 15 years in prison. Moreover, in 1991, the Supreme Court of the USSR adopted an amendment to Article 206 of the Criminal Code (and it is still in effect) that a person who voluntarily releases a hostage is not subject to criminal liability if his actions do not contain other signs of a crime. In other words, if you were kidnapped and treated well, and released in case of danger, the kidnapper will go unpunished.

The statistics of kidnappings in Moscow are as follows:

Our experts claim that kidnapping is carried out by former employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, driven to despair and dismissed from service.

The income of racketeers cannot be accounted for. Those who manage not only to stay alive, but also to save money, try to do something safer. They invest the stolen money in the drug trade, gambling, hotel business, arms trade, and oil industry. If the entire shadow economy is estimated at 40% of the country’s annual budget, then the share of racketeers in the “shadow” business can be estimated at 4% of the state budget - 9 trillion old rubles.

The amounts demanded as ransom reach up to $2 million. If the kidnapping is successful, the money is divided according to the participation: the organizer gets the largest share (accordingly, the penalty is greater).

Your word, Comrade Mauser !

8. KILLER.

We can quite specifically name the date of the appearance of this profession in our country - 1983. Then the “B” department was created in the KGB. Secret officers worked here who had undergone special training and were embedded in criminal groups to shoot the leaders of the drug mafia and the “shadow” economy. They were killed without trial because they had corrupt ties to the party leaders of the regions and union republics.

After the liquidation of the KGB, most of the killers continued their activities unofficially, and now there are about 100 of them. Soviet killers are real “pros”, with good technical equipment, perhaps above the world level. They have many types of weapons in their arsenal, including explosive devices that are triggered by a cell phone call.

Today they “serve” the highest stratum of businessmen - owners of commercial banks, large stores, restaurants, casinos, and hotels. In this environment, a contract killing costs $50 thousand. Experts believe that fees for the murders of Vladislav Listyev, Boris Yakubovich (manager of an Inkombank branch, 1993) and similar crimes were 2-3 times higher, at the level of world prices. The more famous the “object”, the higher the fee.

Professional killers are almost elusive. In any case, not a single specific performer has yet been arrested in any high-profile case.

The exception is the famous killer, former athlete-wrestler Alexander Solonik, although he was detained in Moscow in October 1994 not for murder, but for a scandal in the wholesale market. During the search, a whole warehouse of weapons was found on him. They say that Solonik offered the Murovites $1.5 million to arrange his escape from the pre-trial detention center. He still escaped from Matrosskaya Tishina, leaving an empty pack of Browning cartridges on the floor of his cell. Solonik was found murdered a year ago in Greece.

For mediocre entrepreneurs - cheaper killers, from former riot police and paratroopers. There are about 500 of them. The services of these killers are estimated from $5 to $10 thousand.

The average killer goes to work a maximum of 3-4 times a year. In addition, he has high expenses. Having received the order, he must “drop out” the target. To do this, it is necessary to organize surveillance, hire paid informants. The killer also purchases weapons at his own expense - the choice depends on the conditions of the action. Plus housing costs: you must have at least two apartments. In one the killer lives before the murder, in another - after. We need cars with drivers, who need to pay not only for transportation, but also for silence. Assistants and accomplices also do not work for free. In especially difficult cases, the killer needs several people - a support group and a cover group Finally, clothes and makeup, which need to be changed more often.

A killer, unlike representatives of other criminal professions, is an inconspicuous person. Usually he is “legendified”, that is, he lives, and perhaps even works somewhere, using false documents. The family, if there was one, does not know where the husband and father are, who sends money from time to time. Most killers are loners. They usually work on the road, almost never in the area where they live.

Based on their killing technology, killers are divided into four categories. “Fighters” (possessing various types of weapons and hand-to-hand combat skills) are used when there is an opportunity to shoot a victim at point-blank range, stab to death, or pierce several people with machine gun fire. “Sappers” (highly skilled demolitionists and engineers) are called in when it is necessary to build and operate a clever device that sends the victim to hell. "Snipers" are used when close contact with the victim or planting an explosive device is impossible due to increased security or for some other reason. “Naturalists” are a small group of specially trained specialists who know how to “organize” a victim’s “natural” death.

There is a division of killers according to qualifications. Those who kill with a pistol or machine gun, for example, are divided into “infantrymen” and “professionals”. "Foot soldiers" are usually part of criminal gangs. These are non-professionals who are sometimes tasked with removing some minors from a warring faction. Those who prove themselves in action are transferred to the “pro” cover group. The most distinguished at this stage are taken out of everyday criminal life (fake funerals are organized) and sent for 2-3 years for retraining. There are “pro” training bases in Transbaikalia and Central Asia.

After “school”, a professional killer does not belong to himself - he lives under the control of “masters” (usually the leaders of large criminal groups, thieves in law), who give him orders, all the information necessary to carry them out, advances and fees. The professional killer himself, of course, never comes into contact with the customer.

It is believed that professional killers do not live long - no more than five years. On the one hand, money was spent on their training and they must justify it. On the other hand, they are all people with abnormal psyches and each is dangerous because they can betray not only themselves, but the entire system of organizing contract killings along with its masters. Of course, the most valuable personnel are retained longer.

Today in Russia, any former military man, special forces officer, police officer - anyone who was trained in the use of weapons during their service - can become a killer. Left without work and without a means of livelihood, a person decides to commit a contract killing. And, in principle, he does not stray too far from his former profession, because in the service he was also taught to kill.

Explosion expected

9-10. COMPUTER HACKERS and HACKERS

shared the last two places for the sole reason that there are simply no statistics on them. However, they certainly have a great future.

COMPUTER HACKERS.

The once revered and respected profession in the criminal world of the “safecracker” - the ripper of bank safes - is becoming a thing of the past. New scammers are people with higher education who know how to handle electronic communications. And if in the old Criminal Code the word “computer” was not mentioned at all, then in the new one a whole chapter is dedicated to crimes and punishments in the field of electronic information. It threatens modern “bug-catchers” with a penalty of two to seven years in prison. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and FAPSI urgently began to train personnel to combat crimes in the field of financial communications. They even opened a special department at the FSB Academy. But so far law enforcement agencies are lagging behind: damage from computer hackers amounts to millions of dollars. According to law enforcement officials, such frauds take place with the participation of bank employees.

In 1993, an attempt to “hack” the communications of the Central Bank was stopped. The criminals, who remained unknown, intended to transfer 68 billion rubles by email to the correspondent accounts of eight commercial banks.

One of the Central Bank employees managed to draw up an illegal payment order and transferred $3.2 million to a pre-opened foreign currency account in another bank.

In St. Petersburg in 1995, a gang of 12 people was detained. Over the course of a year, they penetrated the electronic cash management system of Citi Bank in New York (through the Russian branch of this bank) more than a hundred times (that is, approximately twice a week), sent 40 false payment documents and received more than $10 million.

In the United States, the income of computer criminals ranks third after the profits of arms and drug dealers. An explosion of computer crime is expected in Russia in the near future.

PLASTIC THIEVES.

Russian banks have been issuing plastic credit cards since 1991. But it is already possible to write the history of illegal enrichment with the help of a small piece of plastic.

The scammers began by trying to get money from banks or pay in stores using cards stolen from their owners. The successes were small, because in rare cases the thief managed to steal the PIN code at the same time as the card, and even managed to get to the ATM before the client alerted the bank about the theft.

The next stage was the production of “white” cards by the thieves. The numbers of real accounts and numbers were applied to an ordinary piece of plastic. For some time, using such counterfeits it was possible to obtain “real” money from ATMs. But banks have strengthened card security measures and improved ATMs.

The thieves took the next rather successful step: they mastered the technology of making fake slips (imprints from cards on accounting forms). The cards were fake, but the forms and imprinters (a device for applying an imprint from a card to paper) were real. Such an operation requires the participation of a cashier or store accountant, who must be bribed or otherwise forced to work for themselves (that is, exchange fake pieces of paper for money at the bank). In Russia, the first to master this method was Nikolai Suleymanov, the leader of a Chechen criminal group in Moscow. He was arrested for arms trafficking, and along the way it was discovered that cashiers from the Moscow Beryozka stores participated in his fraud. One of them was killed in the entrance of her own house under unclear circumstances. The amount of money stolen in this way remains unknown.

In 1994, 11 thefts using plastic cards were registered in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But the real plastic boom began in 1996 and continues to this day. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, last year there were two and a half thousand thefts totaling more than $7 million. In Moscow alone, one and a half million dollars were stolen, and plastic cards are now available in almost all regional cities.

Only 50 people were detained. Most of them are elegantly dressed, pleasant-looking young people. The scale of their operations varies - from paying for dinner in a restaurant to a large scam that could ensure a comfortable existence abroad for 10 years.

The Criminal Code does not yet have an article on this type of crime. Plastic thieves are tried for ordinary theft.

Also see the section “Fakes”, “Plastic cards”, “Financial swindler detained in Moscow”.

P.S

What is most striking is the earnings. We are used to thinking that people die for metal. And then it turns out that (if you don’t count thieves in law and professional killers, who count) the income of underground professionals ranges from $1-1.5 thousand. At Moscow prices, very average earnings. Is it worth the risk?

But Muscovites who have a residence permit and some kind of education do not take risks.

In Moscow, $1-1.5 thousand is not very much money. And in Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and even in the Russian provinces - this is a fortune. People come to work in Moscow, just as Soviet specialists once went abroad, where they ate stewed meat brought from the USSR and saved up for a Zhiguli.

The costs of anti-professions are terrible, from the point of view of a normal person, of course. From a basic health hazard to a fatal risk. Not to mention legal persecution. There is nothing to say about the living conditions in which the majority of prostitutes, beggars, thieves, and killers live. In fact, all this is the price for the inability to get a normal education and, accordingly, earn the same thousand dollars, but legally...