Valeria Burmeister has been sentenced to four years in prison by the Moscow District Court of St. Petersburg for defrauding clients by posing as a travel agent. The court found her guilty of 11 counts of fraud, determining that she stole at least 13 million rubles from her victims between April 2021 and August 2023.

Burmeister, who had prior experience in the tourism sector, attracted clients with offers of below-market prices for tours, hotel bookings, and visa applications. She entered into fraudulent contracts, collected payments, and then misappropriated the funds for her own use, failing to provide the promised services.

The victims of Burmeister’s scheme resided not only in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region but also in other regions of the Russian Federation. Her illegal activities continued even while she was under house arrest for a previous conviction.

Burmeister was initially detained on December 18, 2023, and subsequently taken into custody after the investigator highlighted that she was again accused of committing crimes while already under house arrest. The court’s sentence includes a fine of 100,000 rubles and will be served in a general regime penal colony.

Taking into account previous sentences from the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow in April 2023 and the Moscow District Court of St. Petersburg in March 2024, Burmeister’s total prison term is now four years and one month. A similar case was reported earlier this year involving a woman suspected of defrauding over 50 families from various regions of Russia in 2022.