Mall guy: what a teenager risks in a food court party
Shopping malls, food courts, and 24-hour fast food restaurants have become the main attraction and pastime for teenagers — it's warm, bright, there's Internet, and you won't starve. But this is where a minor has a lot of chances to get into trouble. Aggressive groups, drug mafia recruiters, "dropouts", insidious seducers who force amorous girls to steal money from their parents. Izvestia investigated the dangers of teenagers in shopping malls and who controls criminal activity in food courts.
Love on the food court
It cost the parents of minor N. a lot of effort and money to expose the object of their daughter's adoration, a young man from new regions, whom she met in one of the shopping malls in the south of the capital. The girl often spent time at the food court, where she met with a regular. The result of their relationship was the broken heart of the girl and the significant enrichment of the young man. The man was brought to criminal responsibility a few weeks ago by the metropolitan police.
It turned out that the guy is also a profit—making tool for the organizers of criminal schemes. According to a law enforcement source, behind such cases there are usually people with criminal experience, previously convicted of serious crimes, in some cases — for pedophilia, fraud, drugs.
"The scheme migrated to the youth environment from the colonies, where enterprising prisoners fell in love with girls by correspondence," says the metropolitan operative.
Usually, an adult criminal involves young people between the ages of 16 and 23 in a criminal group, usually 4-6 people. Teenagers, who often share the ideology of AUE (banned by the court in Russia), are introduced into the company of younger teenagers. They themselves are a little older, they have pocket money, they are more physically developed, therefore they quickly become leaders.
— In many cases, the victims are girls aged 13-16, usually from wealthy families, whom the "seniors" fall in love with themselves. Next, these girls steal money, jewelry, and equipment from their homes and sell them or pawn them.
Also, accomplices accuse peers of stealing gadgets for extortion purposes, write statements to the police about them, which they then offer to take away for money. They get children drunk and take pictures of them in an unsightly way for further blackmail.
"These acts have a high percentage of latency because teenagers don't tell their parents or adults anything," says the policeman. — An important point is that the previously convicted gang leader does not allow his henchmen to engage in sexual relations with teenagers under 16 (the age of consent), but the so—called love scheme based on girls falling in love is actively exploited.
During one of the investigations, the security forces received a statement on the cash flow on the bank card of one of the leader's henchmen — up to 200-300 thousand rubles per day were credited to the card from the teenagers involved. During the check, it turned out that the teenagers were paying both the debts of the "boss" and drugs for him.
— Extortion is also spreading through compromising photos and videos. Often, young athletes offer the services of a "roof" to the children of wealthy parents for money.
A new area of illegal activity involving teenagers is the role of a courier in telephone fraud and providing their bank cards for illegal transactions.
Chronicle of troubles
In early October, a 15-year-old teenager was hospitalized due to a shooting at a food court in St. Petersburg. Presumably, the cause of the clash was a conflict between teenage groups. In 2023, numerous videos of teenagers being beaten in food courts and lobbies of public spaces in Moscow began to appear on the Internet. In Novosibirsk in 2023, a group of boys stole bank cards from mothers of their peers in shopping malls.
The police are well aware of the problems that await children in shopping malls, and regularly carry out preventive measures there. A source from Izvestia, an employee of the security service of one of the shopping malls, spoke on condition of anonymity about how criminals are trying to protect themselves from the police.
— The "seniors" pay 500 rubles per guard per shift. For this, security guards turn a blind eye to emerging conflict situations, which are not uncommon among teenagers. The guards also warn teenagers which tables do not fall into the area of constant monitoring by video cameras.
Indeed, you may notice that many teenagers at food courts always sit at the same tables. In addition, when the police conduct some special measures (for example, the special operation "Teenager") or conduct operational actions, for example, requesting recordings from surveillance cameras when searching for minors, the guards also report this. There are cases when "lured" security guards simply ignored fights in the toilets of the shopping center, despite complaints from visitors.
The problem of employment
Elena Zamyshevskaya, a clinical psychologist and specialist in the field of adolescent deviant behavior, argues that spending long periods of time in shopping malls and food courts is not always associated with participation in destructive groups.
— Rather, it is a consequence of pedagogical and parental inattention, — says the interlocutor of Izvestia.
In her opinion, such gatherings by themselves do not necessarily lead to involvement in illegal activities, but are a signal that no one is involved with children.
Zamyshevskaya divides the regulars of the shopping center into two categories: those who skip school and those who are deprived of extracurricular activities (they do not go to clubs and sections), whose parents do not control their leisure time. In fact, teenagers go to shopping malls out of desperation, because they are not interested in them and do not organize their free time.
"Spending time in the mall by itself does not necessarily lead to involvement in destructive activities," Zamyshevskaya says, although she admits that such teenagers can be bullies. — To say that this is fraught with the fact that such children are involved in destructive systems... No, I will not say. To say that they are simply degrading is a thousand percent.
According to her, at the moment, regional and federal authorities are actively engaged in various programs related to the involvement of children in additional education. Such a policy will be able to correct the situation with child employment, the expert believes.
— But we will still run into dysfunctional families, who, of course, will not control their children and motivate them to go to clubs, — says Zamyshevskaya.
Elena Zamyshevskaya actively works with difficult teenagers in the Nizhny Novgorod region. According to her, companies are sometimes formed in shopping malls and food courts that are prone to stealing products from stores.
— There are times when children find other people's cards and use them. One such situation ended in court — a truant with friends at the mall found a card and gradually shopped on it. Another serious situation was related to group fights organized by party-goers from the shopping center.
In her opinion, children are involved in more serious crimes remotely through social networks.
Control and trust
To keep children out of trouble, parents should follow a few simple rules. The first is to be aware of the child's life and be aware of your responsibility, advises Dmitry Vtorov, president of the Search for Missing Children Foundation and a member of the public council at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, to the readers of Izvestia.
— You must clearly understand that you are responsible for your child until the age of 18. His psychoemotional development does not always allow for an objective assessment of risks. Children do not have enough life experience and knowledge to recognize the danger in time or resist the manipulations of criminals. The consequences can be very different — from participating in bullying and petty theft to working as a drug pawnbroker, robbery and even terrorist activities.
It is necessary to be aware of the child's contacts, with whom he is corresponding on the Internet.
— For security purposes, you have the right and the obligation, if necessary, to review his correspondence and browser history, to have access to a phone and other electronic devices.
The second rule is to maintain constant and direct contact with the child.
— This is achieved through joint leisure, spending time together, and developing trust. Try to develop empathy in children, maintain parental authority, but do not undermine the authority of other loved ones. To do this, avoid conflicts in front of children, do not humiliate relatives in their eyes, and do not look for a child as an ally in family proceedings. Communicate regularly and confidentially: ask how his day went, what worries him, what pleases him. Let him feel that you care.
The third rule is to be sensitive and attentive to the child's feelings.
"What seems like a minor problem to you can become a real tragedy for him," says Vtorov. — The inability to overcome conflicts and difficulties often leads children to a state of "living one day", when the future seems very distant and uncertain. Therefore, it is important to take any child's problems seriously and help them draw the right motivational conclusions.
If a child is missing, you should immediately contact the police and the volunteers.
— Our hotline 8-800-30-112-01 is open around the clock, — says Vtorov. — If a child is in touch, but does not return home, this does not mean that he is safe. Children should live at home and be supervised by adults. Ask for help immediately.
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