A group of fraudsters who were appropriating apartments belonging to deceased and missing owners was exposed in Kyiv
An organized group was uncovered in Kyiv whose members illegally took possession of apartments using forged documents. Among the victims were homeowners who had died or had not used their properties for a long time.
According to the investigation, between 2023 and 2024, the ringleader and three accomplices sought out apartments that were effectively unattended by their owners. They then produced forged passports, inserted their own photographs into them, and posed as the true owners of the properties.
The suspects then drew up fictitious powers of attorney, which they used to sell the apartments to third parties.
Law enforcement officials determined that the suspects used this method to take possession of an apartment in Ivano-Frankivsk and a residence in Kyiv. In addition, they attempted to illegally appropriate another apartment in the capital.
The total amount of damages caused, according to preliminary estimates, exceeds 2.6 million hryvnias.
The suspects’ actions have been classified under articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, specifically for fraud on an especially large scale, attempted fraud, and forgery of documents committed by an organized group.
The court imposed a preventive measure on the organizer of the criminal scheme in the form of pretrial detention with the possibility of posting bail of nearly 5 million hryvnias. Two other members of the group are under nighttime house arrest, but prosecutors are appealing this decision. Another accomplice was notified of the charges in absentia.
Law enforcement officials are currently identifying other possible participants in the scheme and investigating the suspects’ involvement in other cases of illegal appropriation of real estate.
The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by investigators from the Shevchenkivskyi Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv, with operational support from the Strategic Investigations Department in the capital of the Strategic Investigations Service of the National Police of Ukraine.
This was reported on July 21 by the press service of the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office.
As a reminder, in Zaporizhzhia, a pre-trial 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 Economic Crimes Bureau uncovered tax evasion totaling nearly ₴28 million in the flower business.
