Sample statement regarding fraud: how to submit to the police and prosecutor's office

Fraud is considered one of the most sophisticated types of crime. After all, the criminal is faced with the task of not only taking possession of other people’s money or property - he needs to figure out how to deceive or skillfully gain the trust, sometimes of a complete stranger. If you fall for a scammer, don’t hesitate to contact the police - half of these dealers are sure that no one will sound the alarm and continue to engage in their criminal activities. In order for law enforcement agencies to take action in a timely manner and the deceiver to be punished, it is necessary to prepare a statement to the police regarding fraud.

Where to apply

Before considering this issue, we draw the attention of readers to the fact that the application must be submitted as quickly as possible, immediately after you discover a violation of your rights, even if you are not sure of the qualifications of the offense.

So, you can submit your application:

To the territorial police department at the place where the crime was committed. If there were several episodes of illegal actions, choose the area where the last crime or the majority of those committed was committed. You can submit an application in person or through the official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Based on practice, they will begin consideration faster if you submit your application in person to the duty station. There, your written request must be registered in the message book and you must be given a so-called coupon indicating the assigned number. Under no circumstances refuse to take this ticket, keep it carefully - in case of red tape and negligence on the part of the police, this document will be needed.
To the prosecutor's office. As a general rule, such applications are not submitted to this organization. But, by virtue of the job descriptions of this department, its employees are obliged to accept and register any application from citizens. Therefore, your statement regarding fraud will be accepted by the prosecutor’s office and sent to the police department within three days, with instructions to conduct a procedural check. The disadvantage of contacting the prosecutor's office can be considered, taking into account the referral under jurisdiction, a longer period of consideration (sometimes this is very important, the clock can count). One of the advantages is the unconditional implementation of the instructions of prosecutors by police officers, so there is a high probability that the consideration of an application received from the prosecutor’s office will be treated more carefully and promptly.

Please note that if damage is caused as a result of fraudulent actions on the part of representatives of any legal entities, you can, in parallel with the statement of crime, submit to the district prosecutor's office an application for the need to check the activities of the organization in general.

Anonymous reports of crime

Statements about crimes that do not contain any information about the author, without a signature or signed by a fictitious person, or a person who really exists but did not write the statement, and also that do not contain information about the place of residence, work, study of the applicant are recognized as anonymous and cannot be made grounds for initiating a criminal case.

By virtue of the direct instructions of the law (Part 7 of Article 141 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation), anonymous statements cannot serve as a reason for initiating a criminal case. However, this provision does not mean that anonymous statements are not taken into account by law enforcement agencies at all. Any such statement containing information about a crime being prepared or committed can and should be verified by the investigative body whose competence includes the disclosure of this crime, first of all, by conducting appropriate public or covert operational investigative activities, as a result of which the question of initiating a criminal case is decided according to the rules of Article 143 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.

Thus, anonymous statements, as a rule, should be transferred to authorized units for operational work.

How to apply

There is no established form that the appeal must comply with in criminal procedure legislation. At the same time, practice and norms regulating the procedure for considering reports of crimes have developed approximate criteria that statements of this nature must meet:

The name of the police department, indicating its chief. In the duty room of any public office there is a stand on which there are sample statements intended for use by citizens as examples. If, however, there is no such stand, you can ask the police officer on duty for the name and surname of the head of the department.
Applicant details – full name, place of residence (actual), telephone number.
The essence of the appeal. Here are all the important circumstances that you regard as fraud. That is, the so-called objective side of the crime must be indicated - who (if known), what they did, what damage, where and when the events occurred.
Evidence – information from witnesses, written or other information media that can be used to confirm what you have written.
Indication of a warning about liability for knowingly false denunciation under Art. 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Signature, number.
List of attached documents.

What to write in it

The law allows victims to contact law enforcement officials:

orally (handling of facts about a crime is recorded in the protocol), even outside the buildings of police departments;
by mail;
by email;
through special services (they are posted on official websites with detailed explanations);
personally.

Practice shows that personal appeals are still the most effective.

What to include in a document, how to write a statement of theft to the police:

in the upper right corner - the name of the department where the applicant is applying;
the header contains the applicant’s data with the address of actual residence and telephone number for operational contacts;
then in the center of the sheet is the name of the document (it is not necessary to indicate what crime occurred, it is permissible to give the general name - theft or simply write “statement”);
then follows a description of the events, only the basic facts; law enforcement officers will definitely take a separate description of the act with a detailed description of what happened;
property with a clear description, reference to cost;
a request to initiate a criminal case;
description of applications;
message informing of liability for false denunciation. This is a mandatory requirement;
personal signature, date of compilation.

Sample statement regarding fraud

Let's create an example of a fraud complaint that you can use when writing it yourself (without the help of a lawyer). Comments that can be taken into account in one or another version of events are highlighted in blue.

To the head of police department No. 1 of the Kaluga Regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, police colonel V.N. Petrov.

(if for some reason you cannot write the title or surname of the chief of the OP (for example, you do not know this), the application must still be accepted; the absence of this data is not a basis for refusal to accept)

Nikolaeva P.R., born in 1975, living at the address: Kaluga, st. Derevenskaya, 1, apt. 7. tel. 892600077

(if fraud is committed against a minor, the details of both the legal representative and the child are indicated here)

STATEMENT

I ask that a man unknown to me, who introduced himself as Krasnov A.Yu., be brought to criminal responsibility, who in the period from October 10, 2016. to October 15, 2016, while in the office of the company I own, at the address Kaluga, st. Derevenskaya, 2, letter A, by deception he stole money from me in the amount of 250,000 rubles, which is significant damage for me.

(In general, such a brief statement states enough for the police to see the prospect of initiating a criminal case and begin to actively work on it. However, such an appeal has little content, so we recommend revealing the essence of your problem in more detail)

I am an individual entrepreneur, I own a company for the production of accessories, located at the address: Kaluga, st. Derevenskaya, 2, letter A. In this office, I made an appointment with the representative of the Uyut real estate agency, Alexander Yuryevich Krasnov (other details are unknown to me), who was supposed to find me a premises in Kaluga for me to purchase in order to expand my business .

10.10.2016 Krasnov A. appeared at 10:00 at the office at the above address, where he offered to conclude a preliminary agreement with him for the purchase of premises with an area of 87 sq.m., located at the address - Kaluga, st. Turgeneva, 10, letter B. After inspecting this premises (in the absence of the owner, A.Yu. Krasnov had the keys to it), I agreed to buy it. At the same time, Krasnov A.Yu. assured me that the owner of the premises, M.T. Morozov. is abroad undergoing treatment for cancer, that Krasnov has a power of attorney for sale. Krasnov also explained that he has two buyers and in order to complete the deal with me, he needs to make a deposit of 250,000 rubles, handing it over to him personally. In response to my question, provide me with a power of attorney Krasnov A.Yu. showed me a photocopy, saying that he never carries the original with him and will provide it on the day of concluding the main contract.

Believing Krasnov A.Yu., 10.15.2016 I gave him 250,000 rubles while in the office at Kaluga, st. Derevenskaya, 2, letter A, we entered into a preliminary agreement with him, where he confirmed receipt of the money with his signature.

After this, on the agreed date for completion of the transaction, October 21, 2016. Krasnov A.Yu. did not show up to my office, citing poor health, and the final contract was not drawn up.

When I tried to enter the premises at the address Kaluga, st. Turgeneva, 10, letter B, then I discovered an operating cafe there, where the director informed me that at the beginning of October 2016 the premises were purchased by I.Z. Ogurtsov, who as of October 10, 2016. was already the full owner and does not intend to sell it. In a conversation with Ogurtsov I.Z. I found out that he bought the premises from M.T. Morozov. personally, without intermediaries even before my meeting with Krasnov, and also the fact that Morozov M.T. He does not suffer from any disease and has never been abroad.

Since Krasnov A.Yu. took possession of my money through deception, I ask him to be held accountable.

(You can clarify what measures you took to repay the debt in order to eliminate doubts that this is not just a violation of an obligation in the civil legal sense, but a criminal offense.)

Before writing this statement, I tried daily and repeatedly to contact A.Yu. Krasnov. at 8926777888, but his phone was always turned off. I also visited the address indicated in the preliminary agreement as the location of the Uyut real estate agency and found out that there is a residential building at this address and there are no organizations there.

(Be sure to clarify why the damage to you is significant.)

250,000 rubles is a significant loss for me, since I have three young children dependent on me, I pay a mortgage and my wife’s salary is 15,000 rubles. My monthly income from business activities averages 70,000 rubles.

(It would be useful to indicate who can be interviewed as witnesses already at the stage of the procedural check.)

I would also like to inform you that I transferred the funds in the presence of my employees - Lebedeva M.Yu., Doronina G.K., who are ready to give explanations and confirm the circumstances stated by me in the application. I also ask you to question the current owner of the premises, Ogurtsov I.Z., as well as the previous owner, Morozov M.T., regarding the circumstances.

(Be sure to reflect your understanding of the consequences associated with falsely reporting a crime.)

On criminal liability for knowingly false denunciation under Art. 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation warned.

October 23, 2016 Nikolaev P.R.

What documents to attach

The law does not provide a clear list of documents that must be attached to the submitted application. At the same time, in the criminal procedure law there is such a concept as the relevance of evidence. Simply put, each attached document must, in its content, confirm one or more circumstances reported to the police, in other words, be relevant to the case. At the same time, depending on the type of fraud, you can follow some recommendations that have been developed by practice.

So, in the example we described, you can attach:

preliminary agreement, which Nikolaev P.R. writes about.
information about registration of Nikolaev as an individual entrepreneur, where the legal address will be indicated - that is, the place where the crime was committed.
a certificate of your income (to confirm the significance of the damage).

You can attach not the originals, but copies of these documents - subsequently (during the investigation) they will be certified by a police officer, comparing them with the originals.

Other options for documents that can be attached:

receipt – if they borrowed money from you without initially intending to return it and thereby stole it by deception;
invoices, sales contracts - if they took the goods from you for sale, sold them and did not return the money;
documents for a telephone or other equipment - if, under the guise of using it, they asked you for it and appropriated it;
screenshots of website pages where funds were debited from bank cards, phone balances, etc. – if we are talking about the fact of Internet fraud. In such cases, the check will be carried out by the specialized police department “K”, however, it is not necessary to specifically indicate in the application for transfer to this particular department - in the police, even without such specification, the check will be entrusted to the relevant specialists.
bank account statement if money was withdrawn from the card;
all documents related to real estate - if the subject of fraud was an apartment, house, land, etc.

If you write a detailed statement and attach a complete package of documents, from which it will be clear that an unlawful act was committed against you, within three days (the maximum period for extension is 10 days) a criminal case must be initiated under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud). However, in some cases the initiation of a criminal case is refused, sometimes unreasonably.

What to do if a fraud case is refused

If you do not agree that a case is not being initiated, you need to appeal the decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case. You can do this in two ways:

contact the prosecutor's office.
go to court.

First you need to get a copy of the refusal decision. By law, the authorized police officer who is investigating your application is required to inform you what decision has been made.

But sometimes the applicant does not receive notification. We will not dwell on the reasons for the lack of information from the victim - in some situations, these are shortcomings in the work of the post office, in others, shortcomings in the work of the police. In one case or another, if the victim has not received any information on his appeal after 13-16 days from the date of filing , he has the right to independently contact the police and demand that he be given a copy of the decision.

In such a situation, you will need the coupon that we mentioned - it indicates the registration number of your application, using it you can quickly find the so-called executor who dealt with your problem. When you apply for a copy of the decision to refuse to initiate or initiate a criminal case, you must be given one.

Having received the decision and not agreeing with the reasons for the refusal, you can write a complaint to the prosecutor’s office, an approximate example is as follows:

Prosecutor of the Leninsky district of Kaluga Ivanov I.I. Nikolaeva P.R., born in 1975, living at the address: Kaluga, st. Derevenskaya, 1, apt. 7. tel. 892600077

COMPLAINT in accordance with Art. 124 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation

I ask you to check the legality and validity of the resolution of the local police department No. 1 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Kaluga Melnikova I.I. from 02.11.2016 refusal to initiate criminal proceedings.

So, 10/23/2016. I filed an application to initiate a criminal case against a person who introduced himself to me as A.Yu. Krasnov, who stole 250,000 rubles from me by deception.

In its resolution, the UUP (precinct police commissioner) indicates that insufficient data has been provided that Krasnov A.Yu. there was intent to steal funds through deception. District police officer I.I. Melnikov concluded that there is no corpus delicti, in this case there are civil relations, I was recommended to go to court in a civil manner.

(Note that in cases of fraud, the wording about “the existence of civil legal relations” is the most common in decisions to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings. To prevent refusal on such grounds, it is necessary to provide evidence of deception.)

At the same time, Krasnov A.Yu. initially provided me with false information about the premises being sold and its owner, as well as forged documents (power of attorney), so the grounds that the district police officer gave in his decision do not correspond to reality.

I ask you to cancel this resolution and initiate a criminal case under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Nikolaev P.R., 03.11.2016 Signature.

Attachment: copy of the decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case dated November 2, 2016.

Responsibility for forging signatures on documents

Such a statement is in accordance with Art.
124 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the prosecutor's office is obliged to consider it within three days (can be extended up to 10 days) , during which the assistant prosecutor will request the so-called “refusal material” from the police and check the legality of the decision made.
If there are grounds, the prosecutor’s decision is canceled, an additional check is carried out, or the case is initiated immediately. The applicant is notified of the decision. It is known from practice that such cancellations of decisions can be repeated, which becomes like red tape, since the time spent on considering a complaint at the prosecutor’s office adds up to 10 days of additional checks by the police.

If such red tape is allowed, you can appeal the actions of officials (both the district prosecutor's office and the police) to the regional prosecutor's office. You can also follow the recommendation to go to court - sometimes this is a more effective way of influencing negligent law enforcement officials.

The application to the court is written as follows:

To the Chairman of the Leninsky District Court of Kaluga V.V. Petrov Nikolaeva P.R., born in 1975, living at the address: Kaluga, st. Derevenskaya, 1, apt. 7. tel. 892600077

COMPLAINT in accordance with Art. 125 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation

(Please note that the judicial procedure for considering such complaints is regulated by Article 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation (in the previously given example of filing a complaint with the prosecutor’s office - Article 124 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation).)

I ask that the resolution of the local police department No. 1 of the Kaluga Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs be declared illegal. I.I. Melnikova. from 02.11.2016 refusal to initiate criminal proceedings.

So, 10/23/2016. I filed an application to initiate a criminal case against a person who introduced himself to me as A.Yu. Krasnov, who stole 250,000 rubles from me by deception.

In its resolution, the UUP indicates that there is insufficient data provided that Krasnov A.Yu. there was intent to steal funds through deception. District police officer I.I. Melnikov concluded that there is no corpus delicti, in this case there are civil relations, I was recommended to go to court.

(The refusal to initiate a criminal case on the above grounds is illegal, which entails the cancellation of the decision.)

When considering this complaint, I ask you to request from OP-1 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Kaluga the refusal material regarding the crime report numbered _______.

(Here you will need to indicate the number assigned to your appeal - the so-called KUSP (number in the Crime Reporting Book).)

I also ask you to call district police officer I.I. Melnikov. at the court hearing.

(According to the law, the presence of the officials who made the decision contested by the citizen is desirable, but not mandatory. Thus, if Melnikov, summoned by the UUP, does not appear in court, the consideration of the complaint will be carried out in his absence.)

Nikolaev P.R., 03.11.2016 Signature.

Attachment: copy of the decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case dated November 2, 2016.

Such a complaint will be considered by the court within five days from the date of receipt by the judge’s office. Based on the results of the consideration, a decision will be made to recognize the arguments as justified and to cancel the decision to refuse to initiate a case, or a decision to leave the complaint without satisfaction. In the latter case, the applicant is given a 10-day period to appeal the appeal.

Terms of consideration

The period for consideration of an application submitted to the police should not exceed three days. But this condition is not always possible to comply with, therefore, in accordance with Article No. 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, if necessary, the period for consideration of the application can be extended to 10 days.

Reasons for extension may be:

need to collect evidence
waiting for the results of the examination
obtaining additional information about the offense

So, let's summarize

It is better to submit a fraud report in person to the police department at the place where the crime was committed;
the appeal should indicate the essence of what happened, specifying the date of the unlawful act, the amount of damage, etc. The more detailed the circumstances are, the greater the likelihood of initiating a criminal case;
documents that are attached to the application must be of a crime-confirming nature;
if you have not been served with a resolution to initiate or refuse to initiate a criminal case, you can contact the police, providing the coupon number issued when registering the message;
If a fraud case has not been opened and you do not agree with this, then the relevant decision can be appealed to the prosecutor’s office in accordance with Art. 124 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, to court - in accordance with Art. 125 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation;
if the prosecutor’s office does not agree with your arguments, then further appeal is possible to a higher prosecutor’s office or to the court;
If the court did not satisfy your complaint, then you have 10 days to appeal to the regional court.

Can minors file a police report?

In accordance with the legislative norms of the Russian Federation, every citizen, regardless of his age, has the right to protect his interests, including with the involvement of law enforcement agencies.

This is confirmed by Article No. 13, approved by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1989, which states the inalienable right of the child to communicate information. The right is also confirmed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which states that all citizens of the country can contact the police (Article No. 33 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation).

Since a minor is a citizen of the country, regardless of his age, this means that he can exercise this right in full.

At the same time, in accordance with the norms of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, responsibility for protecting the rights and interests of the child lies with his parents or other legal representatives. This means that in accordance with Article 64 of the RF IC, after filing an application, the interests of the child will be represented by his parents, or persons legally entitled to replace them.