People's Artist Valentina Antoniuk lost over 5 million hryvnias to scammers
Valentina Antoniuk, a 71-year-old singer and teacher, handed over $128,000 and 400,000 hryvnias to a fraudster who claimed to be an SBU employee.
This was reported by Glavkom, citing a source in law enforcement. The victim is a doctor of cultural studies, the author of a linguistic and cultural theory of solo singing, and the mother of Ukrainian composer Valery Antonyuk.
Valentyna Antoniuk has headed the Chamber Singing Department at the National Music Academy of Ukraine since 2017; previously, she worked as a soloist with the Mykolaiv Philharmonic and taught at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts. The singer is known for her one-woman shows “Marusya Churai,” “Roxolana,” and “Shevchenkiana,” with which she has performed on stages in Ukraine and abroad. She received her professional education at the Kyiv Music School and the Kyiv Conservatory, from which she graduated in 1980 as a vocalist.
Throughout her creative career, the artist has participated in international festivals such as “Kyiv Music Fest,” “Musical Premieres of the Season,” and “Forum of Young Music.” In addition to her vocal work, she is known as a poet, prose writer, and art historian. Law enforcement officials are currently investigating the circumstances of the fraud scheme of which the People’s Artist was a victim.
It has been established that the 71-year-old Kyiv resident received a call on one of her messaging apps from a man who identified himself as an SBU employee. He informed her that she was suspected of treason and had to hand over all her savings for verification. The money would be checked to see if it was of Russian origin. The scammers promised to return the money to the woman after it was verified. To make their story more convincing, they sent her fake summonses via the messaging app.
In Sumy, the SBU’s counterintelligence unit, in cooperation with the National Police, exposed and shut down an underground call center whose operators were swindling money from citizens.
