Netanya man indicted for stealing thousands from Russian-speaking elderly Israelis
The group of criminals would trick the victims into giving them their credit card information by pretending to be the Israel Electric Corporation or the water corporation.
By SARAH BEN-NUN An illustrative image of elderly Israelis.(photo credit: NATI SHOHAT/FLASH90)
Yan Yaakobov, 61, was indicted on Sunday for stealing tens of thousands of shekels by tricking elderly Russian-speaking Israelis into giving over their account information.
From January 2024 until May 3, 2025, Yaakobov worked with several other people to manage a sting operation to deceive elderly folks and steal large sums of money from them. Most speak Russian and aren’t fluent in Hebrew or fully familiar with the financial system in Israel.
The group did this by tricking the victims into giving over their credit card information, including the four-digit code used to draw cash and approve transactions.
Some of them called the victims pretending to be representatives of the Israel Electric Corporation, from the water company, or representatives of different communications companies.
Later on, they would call the victims and tell them to download an app on their phone, claiming that it made the service better. They would also present technological issues to them that didn’t exist to get the information.
The cash isn't going anywhere (credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)
Yaakobov stole hundreds of thousands of shekels from elderly people
In one instance, the perpetrators told a man that he had to turn his phone upside down in order to switch to fiber optics, and in doing so, they downloaded all of his personal information, allowing them to control his phone from afar.
This gave them access to all of his personal information, including bank accounts and account information. All of this, obviously, without the victim’s knowledge.
Yaakobov then went to ATMs all around Netanya, Ashdod, and Mevaseret Zion to draw out cash from the accounts. Altogether, he stole hundreds of thousands of shekels from the accounts.
In another instance, one operative called a victim and pretended to be a cop or a security officer for a bank. He said that the victim had fallen for a scheme and that he needed his personal information to help him.
After earning the victim’s trust, the perpetrators would demand the information needed to access the accounts or, in some cases, ask for cash.
From August 2024 until May 2025, Yaakobov transferred NIS 128,778 to foreign accounts through a currency exchange in Netanya called Smart Change. Yaakobov and his crew stole NIS 389,600 overall and tried to pull another NIS 9,000.
