In Kyiv, law enforcement officers have filed an indictment against two residents of the capital, aged 25 and 26, who defrauded elderly people by offering to repair computers and install antivirus software. According to the prosecutor's office, the criminals extorted from the victims between $8,000 and $11,000 for work that actually cost much less.
As reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, "home computer experts" were looking for clients among pensioners and advertised their services with discounts. They always came to the apartment in pairs: one worked on the computer, the other maintained a conversation with the client. During work, the victims were asked to turn off their phones, allegedly due to possible signal interference.
After several hours of "diagnostics" and installation of relatively inexpensive or free programs, the scammers issued bills that exceeded the real cost of the services by hundreds of times. The elderly usually paid with their own savings in US dollars, without being able to consult with their relatives or refuse the service.
Thanks to this scheme, the defendants defrauded four Kyiv residents of almost 1.8 million hryvnias.
The indictment against the fraudsters has been sent to the Svyatoshynskyi District Court. They face up to eight years in prison for their actions.
