In the Khmelnytskyi region, a man was convicted of embezzling benefits intended for the mother of a missing soldier

In the Khmelnytskyi region, a 23-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for embezzling nearly 500,000 hryvnias in government benefits that were being received by the mother of a soldier who had gone missing. The man took advantage of the woman’s trust and, over the course of five months, transferred her money to other accounts and spent it on his own needs.

In June 2025, the woman asked the son of an acquaintance to help her withdraw cash from an ATM. To do so, she provided the 23-year-old man with the necessary personal information.

Using the information he received, the man installed a banking app on his own phone and linked it to the victim’s account. He then gained access to her funds.

Over the next five months, without the woman’s knowledge, the man transferred money to other accounts and spent it on his own needs. The total amount of stolen government benefits amounted to nearly 500,000 UAH.

The victim discovered the missing funds while making a routine purchase. She then contacted the bank.

The defendant fully admitted his guilt.

On October 6, 2026, the court found the 23-year-old man guilty of grand theft and unauthorized interference with information systems. His actions were classified under Part 4 of Article 185 and Part 5 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

For these combined offenses, the court sentenced the man to 10 years in prison.

This was reported by the Kamianets-Podilskyi District Prosecutor’s Office, whose prosecutors proved the defendant’s guilt in court.

Earlier, operatives from the Criminal Investigation Department, together with investigators, uncovered a criminal group that had been defrauding residents of various regions of Ukraine. The perpetrators called citizens, posed as employees of various government agencies, and convinced people that they had purchased substandard medications and could receive compensation from the state for them.

In the Khmelnytskyi region, a woman embezzled nearly 8,000 euros from her own daughter.

Fake electricity bills: how to avoid falling for scammers’ tricks.

Scammers intimidated the 13-year-old daughter of a military officer and swindled $54,000 from her.

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 State Bureau of Economic Security uncovered tax evasion totaling nearly ₴28 million in the flower business.