Local Russian media reports that the director of a company contracted to operate a CCTV network in Moscow has been arrested under suspicions of fraud. Investigators found that many of the cameras were streaming pre-recorded pictures instead of live feeds.

The popular action movie trick of bypassing security personnel by forcing CCTV cameras to play the same images in an endless loop was actually put to practice in Moscow. Investigators determined that the fraud ran from May to September 2009, but its purpose seems to be related to operational inabilities rather than facilitating criminal acts in the region.

The rigged CCTV network was operated by a company called StroyMontageService, which was contracted by the municipality to install cameras across Moscow. Dmitry Kudryavtsev, the firm's director, was detained last Tuesday under accusations related to security fraud.

"From May to September 2009 CCTV cameras in several districts of Moscow streamed pre-recorded pictures instead of real-time video," police spokeswoman Olga Dumalkina stated on Tuesday, according to TV-Novosti. She also said that the company received $1 million to install working cameras in the north-eastern district alone, a sum deemed "unreasonable."

Apparently, the race to win a slice of Moscow's 17 million dollar CCTV deployment project launched a few years back is very aggressive. StroyMontageService is also being investigated for distributing a computer virus to some of its competitors, but Mr. Kudryavtsev denies all accusations and claims that his company was framed by rivals looking to drive it out of business.

The popularity of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, which are seen as a successful crime prevention method, has steadily increased during the past decade. There are currently around 80,000 CCTV cameras installed in public places in Moscow, while over 500,000 are estimated to operate across London.

The large number of CCTV systems in some areas even opened new business opportunities. Last year, we reported about a UK start-up, which allows Internet users to monitor CCTV cameras and report signs of crime in exchange for rewards.