San Diego Union Tribune
March 18 2004

Russian, Armenian community targeted
By Joe Hughes
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Two Russian immigrants have been arrested in connection with a scheme
to defraud members of San Diego’s Russian and Armenian community out
of hundreds of thousands of dollars, police said yesterday.

Yasha Kuper, 55, and his son, Roman Kuper, 28, were held last week,
Detective Christine Gregg said.

Bail for Roman Kuper was set at $1 million. Yasha Kuper posted
$10,000 bail after his arrest, but a second arrest warrant has been
issued and he is scheduled to surrender this week, Gregg said.

Sixteen victims have been identified, but that list will grow, police
said.

“We feel there are many other victims out there who are afraid to
come forward,” Gregg said. “We want these people to contact us if
they have had dealings with the Kupers.”

The Kupers, Gregg said, told victims that they were new to the
country and did not have Social Security numbers or bank accounts.
Victims allegedly were duped into providing their bank account
numbers on the premise that money would be wired from the Kupers’
accounts in Russia to the victims’ accounts here.

In exchange for helping out, the victims were told they could collect
a portion of the Kupers’ funds, police said.

Money was never transferred from Russia, Gregg said, and the victims
later found their accounts had been cleaned out.

Victims were solicited, Greg said, through advertisements placed in
Russian-language newspapers.

The Kupers moved to San Diego from Chicago late last year.

Police ask that anyone who has been victimized in the scam call Gregg
at (619) 528-4100.