Police arrested a con artist who pretended to be a man and swindled a woman out of UAH 1.2 million

In Ternopil, police detained a woman from Bukovina who pretended to be a man and swindled an acquaintance out of UAH 1.2 million through a social network. The con artist was arrested when she arrived in the city to collect another portion of the money from the victim. The perpetrator has already been reported for suspicion. She faces up to eight years in prison for her actions.

A local resident, the victim, contacted the Ternopil police. The woman said that two years ago she met a man on a social network. Later, this acquaintance began to ask her for money, and the woman in response transferred her savings to unknown accounts. However, the amounts grew each time, and therefore the Ternopil resident filed a complaint with the police.

During the pre-trial investigation, the Ternopil cyber police department established that a 26-year-old resident of Chernivtsi created a fake account on one of the social networks in the name of her husband, where she posted other people's photos, the Ternopil region police reported on Thursday, January 30.

«From this page, the scammer wrote a message to a Ternopil resident in the messenger. The attacker entered the victim's trust. The scammer invented various situations about her life difficulties, in particular, the need for money for the treatment of relatives, opening a “business”, help to ransom from “bandits” and other far-fetched stories», – the Ternopil region police department said in a statement.

In this way, she systematically lured money from her victim. The total amount that the scammer managed to take possession of is 1.2 million UAH. After one of such «played situations» Ternopil woman suspected fraud and turned to the police for help.

Police officers tracked the movement of funds through bank transfers and identified the person who corresponded with the victim online. The fraudster came to Ternopil to pick up another amount of money, and it was then that she was detained by law enforcement officers. The special operation took place near one of the popular cafes near the monument to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred.

Police investigators have announced suspicion of the perpetrator under Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Fraud committed on a large scale). The sanction of the article provides for up to eight years of imprisonment. The issue of choosing a preventive measure is being resolved. Investigators are currently investigating the woman for involvement in similar crimes.