Police in Smolensk are searching for a hypnotist who convinced a bank teller to give him almost 1 million rubles ($30,000).
A "strange visitor" introduced himself to the teller as the director of a shopping center and said that he wanted to take out a loan, a spokeswoman for the Smolensk region's police department said Monday.
The man didn't ask for an exact amount and didn't provide any documents, but the teller submissively handed over all of the money in the cash register at the time, which amounted to 980,000 rubles, Interfax reported.
The teller later said that she had been hypnotized.
Video surveillance showed that the man was in the bank for no more than 3 minutes. He came in calmly, got almost 1 million rubles and left, the spokeswoman said.
The teller called the shopping center's management, who told her that they hadn't received any money. The bank then called the police to report the theft.
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