Bank robber hypnotized tellers

Russian police say hypnotism is not an uncommon criminal technique.
By Kevin O'Flynn — Special to GlobalPost
Published: December 14, 2009 07:56 ET in Europe
People walk under a currency exchange advertisement banner of Sberbank, Russia's giant state-owned savings bank, in Moscow Nov. 18, 2009. A woman arrested in the southern city Volgograd is accused of using hypnosis to rob a Sberbank branch. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters) Click to enlarge photo

MOSCOW, Russia — Bank robbers have threatened tellers with knives, shot their way into banks and tunnelled up into vaults. But one woman in southern Russia chose a more peaceful method: Police say Galina Korzhova hypnotised a bank teller into handing over tens of thousands of dollars in what is believed to be just one in a series of daring, if non-violent, bank robberies.

Galina Korzhova was arrested, said Anton Kornoukhov, a spokesman for police in the southern city of Volgograd, on suspicion of hypnotising a bank teller in the nearby town of Volzhky into giving her more than $80,000. She is suspected of having robbed up to 30 additional banks in what Russian media have called a "grand tour" around the country.

“She met the woman on the street, saying that she would remove curses and help cure sick relatives,” said Kornoukhov in a telephone interview.

Korzhova is accused of telling the bank employee, whose name has not been released, to put the money into a plastic bag and meet her outside the state bank Sberbank, on Communist Street in the small town. There, the case goes, the teller gave Korzhova the money.

The robber took off with 30,000 euros, $20,000 and the rest in rubles for a total of 2.6 million rubles or $81,000, police said.

The teller only realised what she had done a couple of hours later and told her bosses at the bank what had happened.

Strangely enough there is a well-known tale of a Sberbank teller being hypnotised on longtime Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s orders. Wolfgang Messing was a German Jew who escaped to the Soviet Union from the Nazi Germany after he predicted Adolf Hitler's regime would collapse. Messing was said to be Stalin’s personal psychic and claimed that he hypnotised a teller to hand over 100,000 rubles as an experiment on Stalin’s orders. The Soviet secret police later gave the money back — the teller had a heart attack when he heard how he had been tricked.

Police say that Korzhova is a "tsiganka," or Roma. Police, who are often criticized for racial profiling, say this type of crime is most often perpetrated by Roma who are traditionally involved in fortune telling and are often seen begging in Russia.

The Roma, or Gypsies, are nomadic people who live throughout Europe. Human rights groups say they are severely discriminated against in Russia and that police routinely assume their guilt and harass them.

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How can a story like this be

Submitted by JimN on December 14, 2009 16:13 .

How can a story like this be filed without at least getting a quote from someone knowledgeable about hypnotism? From what I know about it, it is impossible to get a hypnotized subject to do something that violates their moral sense, like committing a crime. What is described in the story sounds like a layperson's misconception of hypnotism (which seems to include the Russian police). Where is the opinion of an expert in the story?

Did this story pass through an editor at GlobalPost? I guess I had an incorrect assumption of the journalistic standards at the GlobalPost. It appears they are less up to those of the NYT and more like that of FoxNews.

This is not news, the

Submitted by Donns on December 14, 2009 22:13 .

This is not news, the American politicians have been doing this to the population for years.

JimN you said "From what I

Submitted by JoLoPe on December 15, 2009 13:56 .

JimN you said "From what I know about it, it is impossible to get a hypnotized subject to do something that violates their moral sense, like committing a crime."

I don't know where your knowledge comes from, however, I am a practicing hypnotist for the last 8 years, and have come to see that even though people say you'll "never do anything against your will," there are ways that a person can still be manipulated, and while there are any number of possibilities here, one that can not be discounted is that what was said to have happened truly did happen.

It is likely in the interest of the profession to have people feel safe, the only problem is that I believe that statements like that can be misleading and provide a false sense of security.

If you want to learn more from a person who knows a thing or two from experience, and has an opinion or two on the topic, visit http://deeper-and-deeper.com.

Hypnosis is a mental state

Submitted by vinitjain on December 16, 2009 18:52 .

Hypnosis is a mental state (state theory) or set of attitudes (non-state theory) usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a series of preliminary instructions and suggestions. Hypnotic suggestions may be delivered by a hypnotist in the presence of the subject, or may be self-administered ("self-suggestion" or "autosuggestion"). The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is referred to as "hypnotherapy". There is so much more to learn about hypnosis that can be accessed at http://theunexplainendmysteries.com Many more exciting cases of how one can use hypnosis to effectively hypnostise and make the poeple work for you can be found on site above.

It's a pretty deep and mysterious world

Who is more gullible, the

Submitted by Karen Anne on December 19, 2009 00:13 .

Who is more gullible, the Russian police or GlobalPost? Its a tie.

Look Like Fake, or

Submitted by superbowl on January 8, 2010 13:14 .

Look Like Fake, or information manipulation. Hypnosis has no such effects.

Whoa, calm down cynical

Submitted by scottieb on January 27, 2010 14:38 .

Whoa, calm down cynical commenters! I am neither hypnotist nor journalist but having attended a couple hypnotist shows I can safely say that subjects can be made to do things they would mentally reject. I've seen my friend jump on stage, rip off his shirt and reveal the bra he was wearing underneath. This was definitely NOT his 'acceptable' behavior.

Tellers hand over money all the time, that is their job. Is it really so difficult to believe they were hypnotized to believe they were handling a regular transaction (cashing a check for instance)?

Though I agree it would have been nice for some comment from a hypnotist as to how these acts occurred (but that's more for the entertainment than information of the story).

I agree with scott, a good

Submitted by cristina36 on March 10, 2010 12:40 .

I agree with scott, a good hypnotiser can make you do anything he wants. My psychology teacher at uni could hypnotise people easily. He hyptonised me once and I ended up insulting all the students present in the classroom that day. I don't remember this but they filmed it and it is quite impressive ! casino pour mac

wow, this is quite amazing,

Submitted by anna28 on March 3, 2010 08:04 .

wow, this is quite amazing, is hypnotism the future of crime ? I wonder if it is possible to hypnotise someone in order to kill. This would be quite serious... casino sans telechargement

first off as pointed out by

Submitted by lucek on March 12, 2010 12:55 .

first off as pointed out by other posters, hypnotism doesn't work like that. an initial induction is usually pretty weak and you'll be lucky to get someone to do a simple party trick with out their consent. if you were hypnotized on a street and someone asked you to give them your gold watch you'd snap out of it and pretty pissed too.
next in Russia is it common practice for bank tellers to go to the vault fill up a bag with thousands of dollars and then just leave. I'd think there would be you know some form of security.

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