Residents of Ivano-Frankivsk region lost almost 600 thousand hryvnias in one day due to the actions of fraudsters. Two people believed an online seller and a fake bank employee and transferred significant amounts to the accounts of the scammers.
This was reported to the regional police.
On February 9, a 65-year-old resident of the village of Lysets contacted the Bogorodchanskyi District Police Department. The woman said that she had found an ad on the Internet for the sale of Starlink equipment. The seller assured her that the goods were in stock and could be delivered quickly.
After completing the application, she was contacted by a man who introduced himself as an individual entrepreneur. He convinced the applicant of the reliability of the transaction and asked for a full prepayment. Not suspecting fraud, the woman transferred about 400 thousand hryvnias. After receiving the funds, the "seller" stopped contacting her, and the goods were never delivered.
On the same day, another victim, a 28-year-old resident of the Bogorodchanska community, contacted the police. She received a call from an unknown person who introduced himself as a bank employee and reported an alleged attempt to unauthorizedly debit funds from her card.
Under the pretext of "account protection," the man forced the woman to perform a number of actions, including providing confidential information and confirming transactions. As a result, about 200,000 hryvnias were transferred from her bank accounts to third-party accounts.
Investigators have opened criminal proceedings under Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - fraud - for both facts. Law enforcement officers are conducting operational and investigative measures to identify the persons involved in the crimes.
The police once again urge citizens to be careful when shopping online, not to make full prepayments to strangers, and not to provide bank details to third parties, even if they present themselves as employees of financial institutions.
