Under the cover of a charitable foundation, almost 9 million hryvnias collected for the Armed Forces were appropriated: members of a criminal organization were detained
The operatives of the Criminal Investigation Department together with the Kyiv Cyberpolice, the investigators of the Main Investigation Department and the employees of the Criminal Analysis Department documented the criminal activities of a group of persons. The defendants, under the guise of a charitable foundation, collected money to purchase armor vests, helmets, night vision devices and other ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But in fact, they simply capitalized on the willingness of people to help the military, appropriating money.
They acted according to the following scheme: the organizer - a 37-year-old deputy of one of the city councils in Sumy region - created two call centers in Kiev and Dnipro and hired employees - managers and operators who worked in the offices. They called businessmen, asked for help in the purchase of specific goods for the military and provided details of a charitable organization. And the money received was transferred to the accounts of controlled individuals-entrepreneurs and distributed among themselves.
In the process of documenting criminal activities, it was established that in this way they managed to collect almost 9 million hryvnias and to defraud about 6,000 people.
In order to hide their criminal activities, the defendants transferred half a percent of the collected amount to the Armed Forces and regularly reported their pseudo-charity to those who sent them money. For persuasiveness, they even recorded videos about what kind of help they seemed to provide to the military. In fact, they transferred only half a percent of this amount for the needs of the Armed Forces, and the rest of the money was distributed among themselves.
Representatives of the National Police conducted 30 searches, including in the premises of call centers and at the homes of the defendants. As a result, they seized computer equipment, data carriers, bank cards, mobile terminals, documents, records of deceived persons and those whom they planned to deceive.
The organizer of the scheme and his seven accomplices were detained in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. In agreement with the Office of the Prosecutor General, they were notified of suspicions of the creation of a criminal organization (Part 1, 2 of Art. 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and fraud (Part 3, 4 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). For such actions, they face up to 12 years in prison.
