Chernivtsi law enforcement officers liquidated fraudulent scheme of sale of forged documents and COVID certificates
Offering citizens paperwork services for travel abroad and employment in the European Union, a group of residents of the Chernivtsi region sold them fakes. During the searches, law enforcement officers seized from the attackers various documents with signs of forgery, special equipment and blanks for their manufacture, office equipment and other physical evidence.
Documenting the activities of the criminal group lasted about half a year. Employees of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Criminal Investigation Department of the GUNP, together with the SBU staff under the procedural guidance of the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor's Office, carried out a set of special measures to identify the perpetrators, their places of residence and work and collect the evidence base.
Thus, law enforcement officers established the involvement of eleven Bukovyns in the specified fraudulent scheme.
Currently, it is known that the attackers offered their help in issuing ID-cards of residents of neighboring countries, international driver's licenses, certificates of various institutions and organizations, including a negative PCR test result and vaccination against COVID-19. Abusing the trust of citizens, violators sold them fake documents under the guise of official ones.
To extract material evidence, law enforcement officers conducted almost 20 authorized searches of offices and residences of members of the criminal group and found:
• special equipment for the production of forged official documents;
• computer equipment;
• seals and stamps of dubious origin;
• dubious documents about COVID safety with the seals of doctors and medical institutions;
• cash and other evidence of illegal activity.
Police investigators sent material evidence for research to the Chernivtsi Research Expert and Forensic Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Currently, a pre-trial investigation is underway in criminal proceedings, previously qualified on the basis of Part 3 of Article 190 (Fraud) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Police officers establish all the circumstances of the crime and check the involvement of other persons in the fraudulent scheme.
Police Communication Department of Chernivtsi Oblast
