President Putin ordered to arrest Internet scam artists after receiving letter from Australian man

In May 2001 Terry, an Australian man scammed by a group of internet scammers, sent his story to Russian Bride Cyber Guide's Black List. But unlike many other men, Terry not only sent a warning to others but wanted to do more and so continued tracking down the criminals determined to have them prosecuted. He launched a webpage with information on the scammers to collect reports from other victims. In the next step he found and contacted the Russian Embassy in Australia, numerous Russian based newspapers and then various Russian government agencies, including the much feared Russian Tax Police, sending them the scam details. Later he found the official website for Russian government and used it to sent a letter to President Putin about these offenders, not expecting his complaint to ever reach the eyes of the President himself. In his letter to the President Terry implied that it was a matter of Russian honor that these criminals be brought to justice, as they were bringing great discredit on their people and country. Unbelievably, the letter got into the right hands, the President himself , who ordered the criminals be tracked down. The scammer gang Terry encountered was started by a husband and a wife, Yuri and Anna Lazarev, Russian citizens. They used photos of Anna to lure men, and female acquaintances to collect wire transfers. At first they used the real name of the wife (Anna Lazareva) to collect money but then moved into using names of other females to receive wire transfers from all over the world. Other aliases were Alfia Magdeeva, Marina Chumachenko, Vasilisa Schelkonogova, Anna Porfireva, Olga Trophimova, and many others. Some months later Terry was surprised to receive Emails from the Russian Police and Interpol asking for details of the scam. Later he was contacted by and questioned by the State and Federal Police in Australia on behalf of Russian investigators, soon the criminals were caught. Terry was one of only 10 men who came forward to testify in the criminal case but it was his letter that made President Putin order an investigation. Terry did not know that it was his letter to the President that initiated the investigation until he was contacted and informed of it by a journalist for Sydney's Sunday Herald, who had received the details from Moscow after the criminals had been arrested.