MOSCOW, March 1 - RAPSI. The police have exposed a criminal group which operated a network of non-licensed payment machines in Moscow's central district, a press secretary of the Interior Ministry department for Moscow's central district told RAPSI on Friday.

According to preliminary information, these machines yielded around 10 to 15 billion rubles ($328 to $492 million) per month. The spokesperson said that the organizer and four leaders of the 150-member criminal group had been detained.

The network comprised over 2,500 non-licensed payment machines in Moscow and the Moscow, Smolensk, Vladimir, Tver and Kaluga regions.

People used them to make payments, but instead of the money being transferred to the account they had specified in the transaction, it was illegally collected by the criminals.

The misappropriated funds were then used by the criminals for illegal cashing operations in which their clients transferred their money into accounts controlled by the criminals and received cash they could use in the "shadow" economy.

The police said these clients are "private individuals and legal entities who need to transfer large sums of money into the shadow economy earned from illegal activity such as tax evasion, illegal tax deductions and VAT reimbursement, embezzlement of budgetary funds and bribes."

Payment machines cater to customers in emerging markets, especially Russia and the other CIS countries, Eastern Europe, Central and South America and Southeast Asia, where other payment infrastructure, such as bank ATMs and debit/credit cards, are not widely available.

Russia's Qiwi Ltd. is the biggest provider of these services in Russia.

Qiwi also provides payment services in 15 countries in addition to Russia. It offers payment tools to consumers in emerging markets, especially the CIS countries, Eastern Europe, Central and South America and Southeast Asia, where other payment infrastructure, such as bank ATMs and debit/credit cards, are not widely available, the company said.