Scammers intimidated a 13-year-old daughter of a soldier and tricked her into giving them $54,000
In Kyiv, law enforcement officers detained two men suspected of defrauding the 13-year-old daughter of a military servicemember. The suspects forced the girl to hand over the family’s savings, totaling approximately 2.5 million hryvnias.
Initially, one of the suspects befriended the girl on social media, posing as someone her own age. After establishing contact, he arranged a meeting and obtained the girl’s location.
The girl was then sent a fabricated video in which people wearing Russian military uniforms allegedly thanked her for her “help and cooperation.” After that, a man who identified himself as a law enforcement officer contacted her. He claimed that the girl had allegedly been exposed for collaborating with the aggressor state and threatened her parents with 25 years in prison.
Under psychological pressure, the scammers convinced the girl to hand over money for a so-called “verification.” She placed $54,550 and 90,000 UAH in a bag and handed it to a taxi driver who was supposed to transport the funds from Kyiv to Sumy.
Police identified the vehicle used to transport the “package,” seized the money, and replaced it with counterfeit bills. In Sumy, law enforcement officers detained one of the suspects while he was receiving the bag, and later arrested his accomplice.
All of the savings were successfully returned to the servicemember’s family.
Source: Kyiv Police
As a reminder, in Zaporizhzhia, a pretrial investigation was completed into an organized group whose members posed as employees of Kazakhstani banks’ security services and tricked citizens into revealing their bank card details, after which they embezzled their funds.
In Volyn, the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) uncovered tax evasion totaling nearly ₴28 million in the flower business.
