Russian authorities have completed their investigation into six members of an organised criminal group accused of defrauding victims of more than $3mn through the sale of fake gold bars in Moscow, state media TASS reported on January 23.

Members of the group targeted buyers keen to purchase gold cheaply for resale and export abroad at a profit, luring them with favourable exchange rates, with the gold price at historic highs of US $4,931.00 at 12:00 GMT on January 23. 

The Investigative Committee of Russia charged the suspects with fraud committed by an organised group on an especially large scale. Investigators established that the group formed last year specifically to commit serious and especially serious crimes in the capital.

The defendants identified individuals seeking to purchase precious metals at favourable rates for subsequent export and profit. They deceived victims by executing purchase agreements for bars designed to imitate gold, manufacturing the counterfeit bars along with falsified documentation attesting to their authenticity.

After the Moscow-based victims transferred digital assets valued at more than $3mn, the fraudsters delivered the fake gold bars without conducting proper chemical analysis.

Investigators interviewed more than 30 witnesses during the probe and conducted searches that uncovered documents, mobile devices and electronic storage media relevant to the case.

Two suspects who had been placed on the federal wanted list voluntarily surrendered to authorities and provided detailed confessions implicating each accomplice.

The cases against those two defendants were separated into individual proceedings following pre-trial cooperation agreements they concluded with investigators.

The criminal cases have been forwarded to court for substantive consideration.