Police in Zhytomyr region have exposed a man involved in a large-scale cryptocurrency fraud. According to investigators, the 44-year-old resident of Mykolaiv region seized the victim's assets worth over 14.6 million hryvnias.
According to the communications department of the Zhytomyr region police, the story began back in 2022, when the victim met the suspect via messenger. The man introduced himself as a specialist in virtual asset investments and quickly gained the trust of his interlocutor.
In the summer of 2024, the attacker suggested that a resident of Zhytomyr transfer cryptocurrency from an exchange service to a wallet. To do this, he sent a special multi-character code that was supposedly supposed to simplify the transaction. Trusting an acquaintance, the victim entered the combination into his account. After that, his assets instantly ended up in the scammer's accounts.
The total amount stolen was 14,647,262 hryvnias. The suspect then conducted a series of transactions to legalize and launder the illegally obtained funds.
Law enforcement officers established his involvement in the crime and reported suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
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fraud on a particularly large scale (Part 5 of Article 190),
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legalization of property obtained by criminal means (Part 2 of Article 209).
A pre-trial investigation is currently underway. The man faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
