Kyiv teacher scammed out of €4,221 by someone posing as the late head of the SBU – source

A Kyiv university lecturer was scammed out of 200,000 hryvnias by someone posing as a deceased head of the SBU.

A case of major fraud occurred in Kyiv.

According to sources in law enforcement, a senior lecturer at the Department of Textile Art, Embroidery, and Costume at the Boychuk Academy of Folk and Applied Arts and Design, and a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, contacted the city police. She reported that unknown scammers, posing as officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), forced her to transfer over 200,000 hryvnias to two separate accounts.

According to the victim, she received a call on the Viber messenger from an unknown number. The caller introduced himself as SBU General Volodymyr Rakytskyi and claimed that a criminal case had been opened against her. He said that to avoid prosecution, she needed to make a “charitable contribution” to support the intelligence service — in the amount of 230,000 hryvnias — to be transferred to specified bank details.

To support the threat, the scammers sent a photo of a summons, allegedly issued in her name by the SBU, via messenger.

For unknown reasons, the art school lecturer did not contact the actual SBU and instead chose to follow the instructions of the so-called “general.”

That same day, she went to a nearby bank branch and transferred the money to the indicated accounts. However, after that, the same number contacted her again and demanded an additional payment equivalent to $16,000. Only then did the victim decide to go to the police.

A criminal investigation has been opened under Part 4, Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – large-scale fraud.

Police are now working to identify the motives and the individuals behind the scam.

Had the artist simply googled the name of the person the scammer claimed to be, she would have learned that SBU General Volodymyr Rakytskyi, who briefly served as acting head of the SBU in 2012 and later as deputy head, died in March 2013 and is buried at Baikove Cemetery.

Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine had warned about a new tactic being used by Russian intelligence services: they attempt to recruit Ukrainians while posing as SBU officers.