Man lost over 60,000 hryvnias due to fraudulent scheme with fake social security payments

The Vilnyanskyi District Court of Zaporizhia Oblast considered the investigators' motion for temporary access to bank documents in a large-scale fraud case. This is a criminal scheme, as a result of which the victim lost over 60 thousand hryvnias while trying to receive fake cash assistance.

This is reported in the register of court decisions.

According to the investigation, on October 17, 2024, the victim came across an advertisement on the social network Facebook that promised a one-time cash assistance of 6,500 hryvnias. After clicking on the link, he received a phone call from an unknown person who introduced himself as an employee of the «fund». The pseudo-representative reported that a number of actions needed to be taken to receive payments.

Trusting the fraudster, the victim followed all the instructions. After that, he discovered that funds had disappeared from his bank account in a matter of minutes – in two transactions totaling 61,800 hryvnias.

During the investigation, investigators established that these funds were transferred to another bank account, and then distributed to several more accounts in different banking institutions. To expose the fraudulent scheme, law enforcement officers applied to the court for temporary access to bank documents that may contain important information for identifying the perpetrator.

The court granted the motion and granted investigators permission to obtain statements from the relevant accounts, data on the movement of funds, IP addresses of online banking logins, as well as information about the person who received the funds.

The investigation is ongoing, and investigators continue to collect evidence regarding the criminal scheme. The case is classified as fraud on a particularly large scale, which provides for up to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Natasha Kumar

By Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116