<!-- wp:html --><p>REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi</p>
<p>Throughout <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/ukraines-organized-crime-world-pivots-to-fight-vladimir-putins-war?ref=wrap">Russia’s war against Ukraine</a>, baffling reports of Russian pensioners trying to set military enlistment offices on fire have emerged with amusing frequency.</p>
<p>But they’re not what you may think.</p>
<p>Seen at first glance by some as brave <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-panic-over-war-mobilization-spirals-with-arson-streets-fights-and-manhunts">protests against the war,</a> the string of bizarre arsons have actually been part of a now widespread scheme in which scammers convince the confused pensioners they’re on a secret mission to help <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/belgorod-russia-accidentally-bombs-its-own-city">the war effort</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pro-war-russian-citizens-duped-into-torching-military-offices-of-kremlin">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html --> REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi
Throughout Russia’s war against Ukraine, baffling reports of Russian pensioners trying to set military enlistment offices on fire have emerged with amusing frequency.
But they’re not what you may think.
Seen at first glance by some as brave protests against the war, the string of bizarre arsons have actually been part of a now widespread scheme in which scammers convince the confused pensioners they’re on a secret mission to help the war effort.