The former chief executive of Russian drone manufacturer Transport of the Future, who briefed Russian leader Vladimir Putin in January 2025 on plans to produce up to 300,000 UAVs a year, has been arrested on large-scale fraud charges linked to a state defense order, The Moscow Times reported on May 11.
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Yury Kozarenko was placed in pretrial detention by Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court. His appeal against the detention was rejected, leaving him in custody as the investigation proceeds.
The case centers on the alleged embezzlement of roughly $800,000 allocated under a state defense order to manufacture combat drones. Investigators allege the money was diverted through affiliated structures involved in drone procurement and production.
Transport of the Future had previously received a state subsidy of…
Cyber fraud uses technology as the primary weapon. It is highly scalable and can be conducted from anywhere in the world.
- Phishing/Smishing/Vishing: Using deceptive emails (phishing), text messages (smishing), or phone calls (vishing) to trick victims into clicking malicious links or revealing sensitive data.
- Business Email Compromise (BEC): A high-value scam where a criminal impersonates a CEO or high-level executive via a “spoofed” email address to trick a staff member into making an urgent, unauthorized wire transfer.