“Financial Exchange”, buyers on the Internet and landlords in the Carpathians: how not to become a victim of scammers
Cyber police in Kirovograd region stopped fraudulent activities of the “financial exchange”. In Chernivtsi region, two women became victims of online stores, and in Ivano-Frankivsk region scammers deceived two people. Residents of Kropyvnytskyi organized a “financial exchange” that deceived their investors.
Fraudsters offered to invest money in financial transactions. But investors not only did not make a profit, but also lost their money. The established amount of losses exceeds half a million hryvnias.
Law enforcement officers managed to identify a 21-year-old man who created and filled with content a fake trading exchange web portal to simulate trading activities. The brokerage company “exchange” was allegedly registered in one of the Pacific island states, and its head office is in one of the European capitals. The man also attracted his friends to illegal activities.
Those involved in the case offered clients to create a personal account and invest in trading activities. They say, it will bring a lot of profit.
For the purpose of conspiracy, the attackers, using special software, equipped “workplaces” in their own homes. Customers did not suspect that they were actually communicating with scammers and had no prospects of getting their funds back. After transferring the deposits to the bank accounts controlled by the defendants, the money was not returned to the depositors. Law enforcement officers conducted searches of the places of residence of the intruders.
They seized “rough” records, computer equipment, mobile phones and dozens of bank cards that were used in illegal activities. Now the police are identifying the full circle of persons who became victims of violators.
Investigators opened criminal proceedings under Part 1, 3 of Art. 190 (Fraud) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of the article provides for imprisonment for up to five years.
In addition, the victims of scammers were residents of the Chernivtsi region. One of the victims told the police that she lost her money under the pretext of selling clothes on the Internet. On one of the social networks, she was allegedly written by a female buyer who offered to pay for the goods through online delivery and sent a link. The victim went to the scammers' website and entered confidential card account information.
In this way, it provided access to its Internet banking. As a result, five thousand hryvnias disappeared from the applicant's bank card.
Another victim of fraudsters was a 41-year-old resident of the village of Rukshin, Dniester district, Chernivtsi region. The woman told law enforcement that she wanted to purchase household appliances on the Internet, paying for it a prepayment in the amount of three and a half thousand hryvnias. The victim did not receive the order, and the contact with the fake seller was severed. For both facts of fraud, the police are conducting pre-trial investigations initiated under Article 190 (
Fraud) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Pre-trial investigations are ongoing.
And in Ivano-Frankivsk region, housing rental in the Carpathians turned into a loss of funds for victims. A resident of Chernigov fell into a fraudulent trap. The man found on one of the sites an advertisement for renting a cottage in the Carpathians, contacted the landlord and transferred the prepayment in the amount of almost 6 thousand hryvnias. However, when the victim arrived at the place, it turned out that such a cottage does not exist. One of the victims of the scammers was also a resident of Rivne region.
He transferred almost 11 thousand hryvnias for renting a house in a recreation complex. A man booked a house through a social network. However, upon the applicant's arrival at the complex, the administration of the institution reported that no funds had been received. As it turned out, the man transferred funds to the account of scammers.
The police once again remind citizens not to trust strangers in the network and to check information thoroughly. In order not to get hooked on scammers, law enforcement officers advise:
- do not transfer funds until you
personally inspect the housing; - before calling or writing to the landlord, be sure to check his account s.
Pay attention to the date of creation of the account, the presence of other ads and reviews from former customers;
- to check the reality of the offer yourself, just enter the owner's number or the address of the apartment in the search engine. You will receive a list of sites where this person's apartments were located;
- try also to find reviews about an apartment, house or hotel on other resources;
- if you have previously seen a photo of this apartment or house, but the address of the location of the object was different, you should not trust such a landlord.
And most importantly - do not tell anyone your personal data (number, serial number passport, tax identification number, passwords, secret codes to the card and from sms messages).
National Police of Ukraine
