Russian scammers in Singapore
Activities of a Russian crook Alex Cano have been investigated in Singapore
European media recently published an investigation into the activities of some personalities from the Russian Federation in Singapore. Someone named Alexandro David Cano Laskin, better known as Alex Cano, is presented in the European investigation almost as a new Russian James Bond or, more precisely, Doctor Evil, sent to Asia to engage in financial fraud. According to our information from reliable sources, fears of a new Russian special agent in Singapore are greatly exaggerated. Alex Cano is not Alex Cano at all, has no connection to Russian agencies, but is an ordinary swindler who hits the jackpot by deceiving naive people from the post-Soviet space thanks to his Singapore passport. But first things first.
A few days ago, the EUReporter and several other media outlets published an investigation into the activities of “Russian networks” in Asia, in particular in Singapore. The activities of local swindlers of Russian origin who received Singaporean citizenship, in particular a certain Alexandro David Cano Laskin, better known as Alex Cano, are presented as an example of how Russian networks have adapted to the new reality of negative attitudes towards people from the Russia after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Alex Cano, as described in the article, has cheated clients out of significant amounts of money, but local authorities have been unable to find a way to deal with him, and because of this, they have begun to investigate who this person with such a Mexican or Japanese surname is. As the European publication reports, Alex Cano attracted the attention of the Singaporean authorities when, instead of peacefully settling the dispute, he responded harshly and aggressively to an appeal from a licensed police agency, accusing it of the fact that demands to repay the debt “distressed him” and prevented him from normal life. The agency's jaws dropped from such impudence. As the agency's representative told the media, they began to study who this character was who allowed himself to behave like this in such a rule of law state as Singapore. The investigation brought an unexpected discovery: it turned out that Alex Cano changed names and biographies with such ease as if he worked for MI -5. Or, rather, for the FSB, as the publication points out. The long name "Alexandro David Cano Laskin" evoking exotic associations - either Spain, or Japan, or Israel, turned out to be invented out of thin air. In fact, everything turned out to be much more prosaic: a Russian native. This is indicated in the Singapore passport , but there are no other traces - as the publication believes, a "digital cleansing" was carried out.
After long interviews with friends, it turned out: in Singapore under the name Alex Cano was hiding a certain Alexander Nikolaevich Pirozhinsky. Moreover, his brother, Sergei Nikolaevich, also changed his name and surname - now he is listed as Sergei Shishkin. The most "used" part of the new name - Cano is allegedly from his Japanese wife. But her surname is Yamagishi , and the children bear her surname, she also only recently appeared in a court case on document falsification. He has no connection with either the Japanese or Mexican families of "Cano". The same with "David" and "Laskin". All this is a construct - to distract attention from his real origin.
The irony of the situation is that, as the publication writes, until 2014, Cano was not hiding his Russian links at all. On the contrary: he proudly published the magazine "Russian Singapore", was the owner of companies that are unmistakably connected with Russia, such as "Ural Asia", "Gazbank", " ZapadInvest " and so on. Publicly, he created the image of a successful investor and a "bridge from Russia to Singapore and back."
And then - a sharp turn. The magazine closed and archive evaporated, companies with "Russian" names disappeared or changed their names, links and publications were erased. The entire digital past was licked up. Interviews, social networks, even participation in a documentary - disappeared. Digital cleansing reached the level of a textbook: search engines filtered the results, biographies were edited, connections were cleaned. The publication concludes that all this is just an example for textbooks about the "new Russian James Bond."
Our sources in the relevant agencies, having read the publication, laughed for a long time. He has no relation to the FSB at all. In fact, he is not an intelligence agent, but a clever swindler cosplaying as 007. All his " agency " comes down to the ability to change his last name in time and close companies after yet another deception. Many clients, who come from the former Soviet Union, are simply more afraid of the attention of Singaporean law enforcement than of losing money, so after the scams, he somehow got away with everything. But at some point, he began to attract attention and came to the attention of Singaporean financial authorities. As the article states, Singaporean banks began to refuse to provide him with services and closed all accounts due to his dubious reputation. As a result, he switched to Malaysian banks and online services, where control is weaker.
The fact that he cannot have any relation to the special services can be understood from the article itself, which tells about his schemes, which are much closer to banal financial robbery, and not to intelligence work . The scheme is simple: first, people from Central Asia or Eastern Europe are introduced to a “respected businessman” with millions in turnover. He promises that you will be able to get a Singapore residence, and then a passport, open a company, take on the costs of lawyers, accounting, and so on - and all this for only a pittance! People agree and are happy that they save on travel and do not have a headache from bureaucracy in an unknown jurisdiction. The first months everything works. Then suddenly “technical problems”, “bank delays”, “customer checks”, etc. begin. And at some point, the money simply disappears. Firms close, the owner disappears, the phone does not answer ...
This is new for Singapore, but we can give hundreds, if not thousands, of such stories. And there is no need to look for Russian James Bond behind them. Everything is much simpler and more prosaic. This is a common story of people being scammed by an experienced swindler from the post-Soviet space, who simply hid well in Singapore. There are many of them in different parts of the world and they end up either in prison or endlessly fleeing from law enforcement agencies. Alexander Pirozhinsky or Alex Kano or whatever his name is decided to change his identities. But this will probably not help him much. After all, Singapore is not Russia.
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