Fraudsters posing as SBU officers swindled more than 12.5 million hryvnias from two Kyiv pensioners

In Kyiv, two elderly people fell victim to fraudsters who posed as officers of the Security Service of Ukraine. The perpetrators convinced the pensioners to hand over their savings “for verification” in order to clear them of suspicion of collaborating with Russia.

This was reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office.

The victims of the scheme were a 67-year-old woman and a 78-year-old man. The woman handed a courier $42,000 and 665 euros. The man gave a significantly larger sum — $225,000 and 11,250 euros. In total, the fraudsters obtained funds amounting to more than 12.5 million hryvnias.

After receiving the money, the courier transferred it to a cryptocurrency wallet specified by the organizers of the fraudulent scheme.

The suspect was detained. During the detention, law enforcement officers found approximately €28,000, 1,610 euros, and 450,000 hryvnias in his car. Investigators are checking the detainee’s involvement in other similar crimes.

The 47-year-old Kyiv resident has been served with a suspicion notice for fraud committed on an especially large scale — under Part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court has chosen pre-trial detention as his restraint measure, with the alternative of posting bail of nearly 1 million hryvnias.