Following the death of their golden goose, Russian scammers tracked down a Sergey Mavrodi lookalike.

After initially agreeing to be the “new” face of the MMM Global, Vladimir Fomin has revealed how “people from Moscow” hoped to resurrect the notorious Ponzi scheme.

After he was contacted, Fomin, who is originally from Kineshma, claims

he was told that the image of Mavrodi would be used to create an online game. As soon as the man agreed, 17 thousand rubles ($250) were transferred to his bank card, and then he and his wife were transported to Moscow.

Upon arriving, Fomin was given a make-over to make him look even more like Mavrodi.

He was then given a script to learn and instructed to study Mavrodi’s facial gestures and expressions.

“I had to say “are you frightened? Thought I was already in the other world? You wish” and act completely like Mavrodi.

For the filming of the video, Fomin was initially promised $450 to $600 a month, which was later reduced to $300.

As part of the deal Fomin would be given a fake passport, which he would use to travel to a “warm country”.

“I was also supposed had to agitate people to join MMM. They promised me life in a warm country.

I’d have to record videos from there. I also had to write a book, as if about the life of the revived Mavrodi.

And then it was necessary to go to a remote village where there is no mobile network, Internet, and live on subsistence farming,” Fomin said, noting that he ultimately refused the offer because he did not want to deceive people.

Fomin’s story was originally published on social media, which was then picked up by Russian media.

And if you’re wondering how scammers might have tracked Fomin down, turns out he’s no stranger to national media attention.

In Russia, Fomin is known as “the man who says no to trousers (and) only wears skirts or dresses”.

44-year-old Vladimir Fomin, from Kineshma, a town in Russia’s Ivanovo Region, is a very peculiar man.

He became somewhat of a celebrity in his country after he was expelled from the University of Mathematics for refusing to wear trousers and walking around in women’s clothing.

He is not gay nor a transvestite, nor does he want to attract media attention.

He just wants to stand up for the rights of men to wear whatever kind of clothes they like.

After all, women are allowed to wear trousers, so why can’t men wear dresses or skirts, why is that regarded as weird?

Ahem.

Even without a make-over, it’s hard to deny the similarities between Mavrodi and Fomin.

Personally I think BehindMLM might owe a debt of thanks to Fomin.

God forbid us having to report on the “resurrection of Mavrodi” and deal with rabid MMM Global investors again…