Two women paid a scammer over UAH 1.2 million for a Mercedes and a Subaru, but never received the cars

Two women from Vinnytsia region paid an online scammer over 1.2 million UAH to buy a car from the USA – Police investigators informed the fraudster of the suspicion.

The Vinnytsia Region Police Communications Department reported this on January 2.

A 29-year-old resident of Kyiv Region took money from «clients» for the alleged purchase of vehicles at an auction in the States, arranging delivery, customs clearance, and registration, but had no intention of fulfilling the obligations he had undertaken and disposed of other people's funds at his own discretion. The court sent the perpetrator to custody, he faces up to eight years behind bars, the report says.

The victims, a 52-year-old resident of Zhmeryn district and a 39-year-old resident of Vinnytsia district, learned from acquaintances that the defendant could help them become owners of cars at an affordable price from abroad. The man offered the women a Mercedes-Benz and a Subaru Forester Limited. The purchase of such cars cost the applicants: one of them almost 700 thousand hryvnias, the other paid over 500,000 hryvnias. However, they were left without vehicles and money. 

Reported suspicion

The police of the Vinnytsia District Department established the location of the perpetrator and, under the procedural guidance of the Vinnytsia District Prosecutor's Office, the investigators reported him to be suspected of fraud committed on a large scale (Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The court chose a preventive measure in the form of detention for the suspect. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.