‘They terrorized him’ Family and friends link Moscow’s student’s death to harassment by ‘Ukrainian scammers’
Pyotr Vetchinkin, a Moscow college student, fell to his death after spending hours in conversations with scammers. His friends and family claim he was driven to take his own life after “Ukrainian” scammers not only threatened him and extorted him for money but also tried to coerce him into committing a “terrorist attack.” While phone scammers have been linked to arson attacks on Russian military enlistment offices and other targets, the connection between these incidents and Vetchinkin’s death remains unclear. Here’s what we know so far about the reports and rumors surrounding his death.
Pyotr Vetchinkin, a first-year student at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), died on December 21, 2024, in circumstances reportedly tied to harassment by phone scammers. He was 18.
MIPT shared an obituary written by his family and friends, stating that he died before completing his first semester. “But he passed the most important test of his life: he did not follow the path of terrorists and he protected his comrades. The bright memory of Pyotr Vetchinkin will remain in our hearts,” the family wrote.
The mention of “terrorists” in the post sparked questions in the comments, with one person asking for clarification. An administrator responded, saying, “There are scammers who use terrorist methods (or terrorists who use scamming methods),” and shared a guide on avoiding such schemes. The guide, published on December 25, warned that MIPT students and parents had been receiving calls from scammers posing as employees of the dean's office. “Their goal is not just to steal your money but to exploit you as much as possible for their purposes,” it stated.
On the same day, December 25, Vetchinkin’s mother, Olga Kiseleva, posted on his VKontakte page, sharing details from the investigation. She wrote that on the day of his death, her son had spent hours communicating with unknown individuals through text messages and phone calls. Around 6:00 p.m. local time, he left home and turned off his phone. Approximately two hours later, he died. His body was discovered a few blocks from his home, and the cause of death was determined to be a fall from a height.
“A review of his Telegram chats with unknown individuals revealed threats against his family, blackmail, and accusations of extremism. It became clear that Pyotr had been subjected to a massive information attack, refused to follow instructions to carry out a terrorist act, and was killed,” Kiseleva said.
A friend of Vetchinkin’s, Tatyana Kostenko, also commented on the incident in a post on his VKontakte page. She alleged that “Ukrainian military scammers” had driven him to suicide. “They terrorized him over the phone for six hours, saddled him with loans, wrote fake letters accusing him of being part of an extremist organization, and threatened to harm his family and loved ones. He bravely tried to handle it all on his own,” she wrote. According to the Telegram channel Baza, the scammers convinced Vetchinkin to take out loans and then transfer the money to a so-called “safe account.” Kostenko did not clarify why she believed the scammers were connected to Ukraine.
Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, phone scammers have frequently targeted Russians, attempting to coerce them into committing arson against military enlistment offices, banks, and government buildings.
Mediazona has reported that these scammers typically pose as bank employees or law enforcement agents, pressuring victims to transfer money and later demanding they commit arson in exchange for recovering stolen funds. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claims that most of these scammers operate from Ukraine, using spoofed numbers that appear to belong to Russian law enforcement hotlines.
A new wave of arson linked to phone scams occurred in late 2024. According to Mediazona, phone scammers coerced Russians into committing 34 arson attacks last month, primarily targeting banks, police vehicles, post offices, and government service offices.
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