Man who sold non-existent car online sentenced

A resident of Stara Nekrasivka, Izmail district, repeatedly convicted of theft, appeared before the court again for a crime he committed while behind bars. What punishment was imposed on him by the court, “Mahala” found out from the court register.

From the case file it is known that the 34-year-old defendant posted on the social network «Facebook» advertisement for the sale of a Toyota Land Cruiser car, which he really did not have. The man copied the photos from similar ads. 

To attract as many potential buyers as possible, he set a very attractive price – 40 thousand hryvnias. He explained such a low price by the fact that the car has minor technical faults.

A buyer from the city of Odesa responded to the ad. During the telephone conversation between the buyer and the “seller”, the man from Odessa asked to drive his car. The fraudster agreed, but asked for a deposit of 20 thousand hryvnias.  

On the same day, the victim transferred funds to the account specified by the fraudster in two transactions of UAH 14,000 and UAH 6,000. After that, the seller stopped communicating and the man realized that he had been deceived and turned to the police.

Law enforcement officers searched for the swindler and he sat on the dock again. The court found the man guilty of fraud and sentenced him to two years in prison. If the man's previous sentence, which he is still serving in the pretrial detention center, is added up, he will be released after 7 years and 6 months. 

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