Moscow Bank Employee ‘Stole $1.8M from Client Safety Deposit Box and Sold It for Crypto’

A Moscow bank staffer has been arrested on suspicion of stealing “about 180 million rubles [$1.8 million] from a client’s safe deposit box” and swapping the “stolen” banknotes for crypto .

The banker was reportedly arrested “at one of the capital’s airports.” He allegedly “converted” thousands of USD worth of fiat currency into an unnamed cryptoasset.

Moscow Bank Staffer ‘Stole Client’s Cash’ and ‘Bought Crypto’

Per a January 22 Telegram post from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs spokeswoman Irina Volk , the unnamed bank alerted the police when it noticed the money was missing.

A Russian ATM. (Source: Valera N. Trubin [CC BY-SA 3.0])

“An employee of the Moscow branch of the bank took advantage of his official position. He stole about 180 million rubles from a client’s safety deposit box. When employees at the financial institution discovered the theft, they contacted the police.”

Irina Volk, Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs spokeswoman

Volk said the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Department at the ministry’s Moscow branch “quickly established” the suspect’s identity.

Police officials explained that the suspect “took out the cash in stages.” He allegedly “converted the last batch” of 35 million rubles [$352,600] “into cryptocurrency.”

The ministry has launched a criminal case on suspicion of theft. But it said it is still looking into the “circumstances” of the suspected crime.

If found guilty, the Moscow bank staffer could face a jail term of up to 10 years.

Similar Incidents

The case comes hot on the heels of similar incidents that police think took place in Sochi and the Russian Republic of Ingushetia.

Officers investigating the Sochi case say they arrested a suspect they believe stole “about 168 million rubles [$1.7 million]” from several citizens’ safety deposit boxes in “a depository center” on January 17.

Police think the “thief” left at least 18 “victims” out of pocket.

And in Ingushetia, News.ru reported, a former cashier “at a cash collection center in a Nazran-based bank” stole and “laundered” banknotes worth around $353,000.

In mid-December 2024, a South Korean court jailed a bank employee for 12 years. The staffer stole millions of his employer’s funds to invest in crypto .

Moscow, meanwhile, has “begun” selling the BTC 1,032 it seized from an investigator who took a Bitcoin bribe from the Infraud Organization hacking group.