The National Police liquidated a large-scale scheme for the production and sale of counterfeit documents (VIDEO)
In the summer of 2023, two residents of the Odessa region formed and headed a stable association — a criminal organization, whose members produced more than 3.8 thousand false documents. Finished orders were sent by postal means. Dealers operated in the territory of five regions, namely: Vinnytsia, Odessa, Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv.
To “promote business”, the attackers even created a site with a link to Telegram, through which they accepted orders. Among the fakes that could be purchased from dealers were driver's license, vehicle registration certificate, permanent residence permit, certificate of completion of driving school and passport of a citizen of Ukraine.
The large-scale criminal scheme was liquidated by the investigators of the GUNP in the Vinnytsia region and the employees of the Vinnytsia Department of Internal Security of the National Police together with the SBU operatives with the physical support of the special officers of the KORD and the FIB of the NPU.
At the same time, law enforcement officers conducted 35 sanctioned searches of the defendants in five regions of Ukraine. During the measures, a large number of already produced documents and blanks for future orders, seals with signs of forgery from public and private institutions, including one of the service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, almost $90,000 and equipment on which fakes were manufactured were seized.
Under the procedural guidance of the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor's Office, investigators of the Investigative Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Vinnytsia Oblast collected evidence, on the basis of which two organizers and five members of the criminal organization were informed about the suspicion of falsifying official documents.
During the investigation, it was proved that the profits of the defendants obtained by criminal means amounted to almost 6.5 million hryvnias. Members of the group have legalized them, including through crypto wallets.
Members of a criminal organization incriminate a number of crimes, including:
- creation, leadership of a criminal community or criminal organization, as well as participation in it;
- legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means;
- forgery of documents, seals, stamps and forms, sale or use of forged documents, seals, stamps;
- manufacture, storage, acquisition, transportation, shipment, import into Ukraine for the purpose of using in the sale of goods, sale or sale of counterfeit money, state securities existing in paper form, state lottery tickets, excise tax stamps or holographic protective elements;
- Involvement of minors in illegal activities
(Part 1, Part 2 of Article 255, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 199, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 358, Part 3 of Article 15, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 358, Part 3 of Article 15, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 209, part 1 tbsp. 304 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. Suspects face up to twelve years in prison with confiscation of property.
National Police of Ukraine
