Russia probes ‘selfie with dead’ online community

Russia is investigating an online community that urges members to post selfies with dead people and even offers cash prizes for the best shot, police said on Monday.

A police spokesman in the northern city of Syktyvkar said they have opened an investigation into a community called “Selfie with the Deceased” on popular Russian social networking site VK. 

The community’s administrators pledge to pay between 1,000 and 5,000 rubles ($15-$76) for the best selfie with a corpse. They say the <g data-gr-id="19">selfie-taker</g> should be smiling because the deceased “has gone to a better place”.

The community’s page is filled with photographs of people posing alongside dead bodies at funeral homes. 

It was still available on VK as of Monday morning.

The community, which now has some 500 members, caught the attention of law enforcement after its administrator announced a 5,000-ruble ($76) for the best selfie with the body of Syktyvkar girl killed in a car accident, a police spokesman said.

The family of the deceased teenager told local media they were afraid mobile phone cameras would start flashing at her funeral. “We are working to elucidate the circumstances surrounding these reports and trying to determine whether one individual or a group of people are behind this,” Syktyvkar police spokesman Alexander Shidyusov said.