Kazakhstan: Fake Nazarbayev Grandson Nabbed for Swindling

Suppose you want to extort some money in Kazakhstan, but you are not a public official and not even related to one. What do you do? 

How about impersonating a police officer and passing yourself off as the grandson of President Nursultan Nazarbayev? A man identified only as “Abdullayev” is facing trial in the northern city of Pavlodar for doing just that, Kazakhstan’s TV7 is reporting. 

The 26-year-old allegedly swindled businessmen in Almaty, Astana, and Karaganda out of 15 million tenge, or roughly $102,000, before getting caught on January 26. While the broadcaster does not specify exactly how Abdullayev extracted the money, our guess is the promise to put in a good word with "Grandpa" had something to do with it. 

Abdullayev charged only cash, and he also stole cars, according to TV7. He is facing at least 10 years in prison on 24 counts under the Kazakh criminal code.