Army recruiters in Moscow are tricking Russians into signing military contracts with fake job listings that promise no front-line combat, the exiled news outlet Vyorstka reported Friday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the scheme.
Dozens of ads seeking “drivers, security guards and construction workers in the rear” have reportedly appeared on platforms like Avito since at least March. But according to sources in the Moscow Mayor’s Office, these listings are part of a Defense Ministry contractor campaign to inflate recruitment numbers and secure bonus payouts.
Last month, Vyorstka reported a renewed recruitment push in the capital after a lull. President Vladimir Putin claimed last week that the military is now signing up as many as 60,000 “volunteers” each month.
Sources said the contractors behind the fake job listings don’t have the authority to assign recruits to non-combat roles. “It’s a lure to attract more people,” one recruiter, whose number appeared in an ad, told Vyorstka. An official called it “the most obvious 100% scam.”
Once recruits arrive at a military enlistment center on Yablochkova Street in northern Moscow, they rarely turn down the contract.
One man from Krasnodar said he was promised a 12-month contract and given a free flight to Moscow — only to discover upon arrival that the terms were indefinite. He signed anyway.
“The typical portrait of someone who has been deceived is provincial, naive, willfully ignorant, and one who has not previously served,” said a Moscow official.
Since 2023, Russian authorities have promoted contract military service with high salaries as a major incentive.
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