Abstract: The subject of the study is the process of criminal procedural proof in cases of fraud committed in the way "Your relative got into trouble". This method of fraud is implemented, as a rule, by a group of persons, and the task of the investigator during the preliminary investigation is to collect, verify and evaluate the totality of evidence indicating a certain form of complicity in the commission of a crime. Based on the analysis of criminal cases, a typical set of ideal and material traces is investigated, which are recorded by the investigator in the appropriate types of criminal procedural evidence provided for in Part 2 of Article 74 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. This body of evidence gives the investigator grounds to assert that when committing fraud, members of a criminal group plan crimes in advance, assign roles and carry out jointly coordinated activities to implement a criminal plan. The study was conducted using general scientific methods of cognition: analysis, synthesis, deduction, analogy; empirical methods: description, comparison; as well as private scientific methods: legal, sociological, formal legal. The analysis of criminal cases of fraud committed in the way "Your relative got into trouble" allowed us to identify a set of evidence that gives grounds to classify these crimes as committed by a group of persons by prior agreement. At the same time, the paper identifies the problem of inaccessibility to law enforcement agencies of information from the Telegram messenger about the planning and preparation of crimes, which makes it impossible to identify the organizers and other members of the criminal group and does not allow to qualify the actions of accomplices as committed by an organized group. The latter is important from the point of view of bringing to criminal responsibility all members of a criminal group and more precisely qualifying and determining the severity of a crime committed by a group of persons by prior agreement. The above should entail the type and amount of criminal punishment adequate to the activities of an organized criminal group. Only in this case, it is possible to effectively improve the effectiveness of the law enforcement system in preventing and combating this type of fraud.

Abstract: The subject of the study is the ideal traces formed when committing frauds against the elderly, using the method of providing false information by phone that their close relative or acquaintance was in a traffic accident and needed help. The mechanism of formation of traces for this type of fraud depends on the method of its commission in modern conditions, when fraudsters remotely convince victims to transfer money through a courier. When committing these crimes, a set of ideal traces is formed, which in criminology include the testimony of victims, witnesses, suspects, and accused. The investigator's knowledge of the typical features of the ideal traces of the type of crime under consideration will allow to establish the mechanism of committing a criminal act, identify the circle of witnesses to the crime, determine the list of investigative actions aimed at collecting evidence. Research methods: the research is based on comparative legal, formal legal, systemic structural and specific sociological methods. The analysis of the materials of criminal cases allowed us to conclude about a certain set of ideal traces formed during the commission of the type of fraud in question. At the initial stage of the investigation, the testimony of the victims, who provide complete information about the event of the crime, is of great importance. The paper provides the author's justification for the conditions of presentation for the identification of a suspect by voice. Among the close relatives or acquaintances of the victim, three groups of witnesses have been identified who should be questioned during the investigation of the type of crimes in question. These include persons whose name the fraudsters presented themselves to; persons to whom the victim reported the incident and persons who are eyewitness. The ideal traces for this category of fraud include the testimony of suspected couriers, who, as a rule, plead guilty and give confessions. The testimony of other persons who contacted the courier and have information about the crime event is also important.