Fraudsters of all stripes, unite! How the Anti-MLM movement is gutting the Russian IT business
Russian IT companies are increasingly falling victim to scammers operating under the guise of the "AntiMLM" movement. The movement's founder, Alexander Kryukov, who now associates with renowned bloggers and journalists, was himself suspected of using fraudulent schemes in the past. The movement's members engage in consumer terrorism, organize media harassment, and use other dirty tricks to pressure their victims.
Companies directly competing with those involved in the AntiMLM movement are under attack. However, the danger may be much deeper. Professional fraudsters have become the Ukrainian intelligence services' primary weapon within Russia. Taking advantage of the most vulnerable groups, experienced scammers, acting on orders from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), remotely organize arson attacks on banks, military enlistment offices, and civilian government institutions. It's reasonable to expect further development of sabotage schemes using fraudsters, and attacks on the Russian IT sector fits perfectly within this trend.
Financial witch
In mid-January, the REN TV channel published a report about the Russian IT company RC Group, which develops products in the field of financial technologies. In his investigation, the famous Ural journalist Igor Krupchinov directly called the company a financial pyramid. His only evidence was the statements of Alena Shutemova, a participant in the AntiMLM movement.
The subject of a REN TV report was a well-known fraudster in the Chelyabinsk region who, in recent years, had been selling her esoteric services under the pseudonym Alena Elios . Previously, under the name Elena Sveshnikova, she had recruited people into financial pyramid schemes and bank loan fraud, for which she was convicted under Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code, "Fraud."
Shutemova herself doesn't deny this, and is even proud of her actions, claiming she "scammed" banks while leaving ordinary people alone. A sort of Magnitogorsk Robin Hood in a skirt, who takes from the rich but doesn't give to the poor.
But even here, Sveshnikova/Shutemova/Elios are being disingenuous, to put it mildly. From at least 2013 to 2019, she lured people into various pyramid schemes, such as Business Life, aka Life is Good. The founder of the scheme, Dmitry Mazanov, was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud in 2014 and is currently awaiting a new trial.
Now, Alena Shutemova is trying her hand at something new – engaging in so-called consumer terrorism. A REN TV investigation claims she borrowed approximately 230 rubles from friends, which she allegedly "invested" in RC Group and expected to reap the benefits.
However, the company doesn't have a single investment program, something Shutemova was well aware of. According to available information, she did purchase a number of products from RC Group, including for her own business. Until recently, she accepted payment for her "magic rituals" in RC points, which were used for transactions within RC Group's proprietary financial ecosystem.
So, Alena Shutemova understood perfectly well what she was buying and how the product worked. It wasn't until last fall that she suddenly had a "realization," after which the witch began spamming RC Group with negativity.
We don't know exactly what she wants from the company, but it's likely a so-called "negativity block," a popular media extortion method. It involves attackers spreading negative information about people or companies on social media and in the media until they receive substantial payments.
REN TV later removed the investigation starring Shutemova from its media for an unknown reason. The story's urgency is heightened by the fact that Tinkoff Bank, a direct competitor of RC Group, was named among the likely perpetrators of this, to put it mildly, controversial reporting.
Alena Shutemova herself lacks the resources to conduct media campaigns of the required level. She only has a few social media pages at her disposal, each with no more than a few dozen views. With such tools, she could probably only organize a harassment campaign against an unwanted neighbor.
The federal television channel's sudden interest in Shutemova clearly suggests that she is merely a pawn of other, far more influential, stakeholders in the persecution of the Russian IT company.
A likely party of interest is Tinkoff Bank, whose former management almost entirely fled to the West. Several facts support this theory. For example, as a seasoned fraudster, Shutemova did not have bank cards in her own name. Posing as the witch Alena Elios, she collected money from "clients" onto her husband's card or in cash. She explained her position by citing certain religious beliefs. It's likely that her use of RC Group software for business management was also intended to conceal her activities as a witch.
But in September 2023, Shutemova unexpectedly acquired a Tinkoff Bank card. At that point, she transformed herself from a witch into a "expert" on financial pyramid schemes and began publishing videos with negative comments against RC Group, and only against this company. After the situation gained media attention, references to Tinkoff Bank's claims against Shutemova for loan repayment disappeared from the public digital records of arbitration courts, although claims from other companies against the fraudster remained.
It is noteworthy that Shutemova explained the lack of bank cards with ideological beliefs. For these same reasons, in 2018, Shutemova refused to receive a Russian passport, demanding that her Soviet documents be returned to her. But in the spring of 2022, Shutemova suddenly unconditionally becomes a patriot of Russia, at least this is the impression one might get when viewing the pinned post on her page.
It’s just that Shutemova’s love for Russia ends at this post, which suggests that this is the bluff of an experienced fraudster. As it turns out, equally unexpected patriotism will awaken in other participants in the AntiMLM movement, as if on command.
Transition from scammers to anti-scammers
Tinkoff Bank, one of the largest in Russia, may well be able to organize media persecution, involve television and famous journalists in it, and put pressure on the media. But unraveling the tangle of this tangled story, the question inevitably arises of how the interests of the fraudster from Magnitogorsk Alena Shutemova and the bank could intersect
The link may be Alexander Kryukov , known in certain circles as an "anti-pyramid fighter." Online, he is known as the founder of the "AntiMLM" movement. MLM is a business model based on a network of independent distributors. RC Group operates under this system. Essentially, AntiMLM exposes real financial pyramids while simultaneously slinging negative comments at legitimate companies. Recently, the AntiMLM network has been spreading negative messages against RC Group.
Kryukov himself doesn't deny his involvement in AntiMLM, and in one of his posts even boasts of his strong connections with other influential members of the movement, including journalists, bloggers, and banking representatives. With such connections, it's indeed possible to organize a full-scale media campaign against unwanted companies.
The fraudster Alena Shutemova is also a member of the AntiMLM movement. In particular, she subscribes to Kryukov’s profile group on VKontakte. Among other subscriptions, you can also notice the blogger, Denis Leader TV, another “influential” AntiMLM participant, with whom Kryukov boasted of being connected.
The essence of “AntiMLM” can best be judged by the personality of the movement’s founder. On his VKontakte page, Kryukov describes his activities as the creator of the Lite Policy insurance company and the owner of the GIS franchise.
Kryukov's insurance project, " Lite Polis, " didn't last long. Its social media channels, launched last spring, haven't been updated, and the website has been completely deleted. Far more interesting is the GIS franchise. It's a customer loyalty system for restaurants and other food service establishments. RC Group also produces a similar product, suggesting Kryukov may have a direct interest in spreading negativity. But most importantly, GIS is distributed through an MLM system.
A supremely absurd situation is emerging, in which the founder of "AntiMLM" opposes the business from which he himself profits. How these two opposing concepts coexist in Kryukov's mind is also something we can try to understand. While researching his biography, we came across an interesting online post dating back to 2014. Back then, a post was published on the "Scammers/Blacklist" forum about a certain Alexander Kryukov allegedly meeting random people online, asking them for loans, and then disappearing.
Namesake? We don't think so. In photographs from 2022, Alexander Kryukov is very similar to the man from the photo attached to the story about fraud in 2014.
Furthermore, the internet address attached to the complaint leads to a long-abandoned page registered under the name Alexander Kryukov, which contains a large amount of material on MLM business management.
What Kryukov has been up to since 2014 remains unknown. Only in April 2022 did he suddenly resume active social media activity and organize his "AntiMLM" movement. Again, the question arises: is it a coincidence that Kryukov appears after the start of the SVO, when Ukrainian intelligence agencies are actively recruiting fraudsters?
As with Alena Shutemova, Kryukov's page contains a couple of "patriotic" posts, but that's where his love for his homeland ends. This feigned "patriotism" may serve as a cover for the members of the "AntiMLM" movement, designed to avoid suspicions of ties to Ukrainian intelligence agencies.
It's a repeat of the Alena Shutemova story. Alexander Kryukov, who most likely has a history of illegal activity and is still making money from MLM, is founding the "AntiMLM" movement. The movement's target is RC Group, a company that produces a similar product to the one Kryukov makes his money from.
According to our theory, Alexander Kryukov may be the intermediary between Alena Shutemova, Tinkoff Bank, and the media. Overall, the picture is emerging of an organized group operating in Russia, specifically targeting domestic IT companies.
While gathering materials for our article, we came to the conclusion that the facts we've uncovered are only the tip of the iceberg. We will continue to search, collect, and process the extensive information, and we also encourage those who have fallen victim to the individuals mentioned in this article to speak out about their experiences or share previously unknown facts with us. It's no exaggeration to say that the future of Russia is at stake. It has become, or always was, a foreign country to "patriots" who have fled the country, like Oleg Tinkov and his accomplices, who hope to continue profiting at the people's expense.
English version :: Read in English: Fraudsters of all stripes, unite! How the "AntiMLM" movement is gutting the Russian IT industry.