They cheated pensioner out of UAH 415,000 by posing as her son, who went missing in war: fraudsters detained in Odesa region. PHOTOS
Fraudsters were detained in Odesa region who were extorting money from an elderly woman by posing as her son, who had gone missing in action.
This was reported by the Communication Department of the National Police, Censor.NET informs.
In February, a 71-year-old resident of Chornomorsk reported to the police that an unknown person had taken possession of the money she received from the state as a financial allowance provided to military family members in case their relatives went missing.
Law enforcement officers established that the crime was committed by the woman's neighbours - a 24-year-old citizen and her 29-year-old partner. They involved a 28-year-old acquaintance from another village in Odesa district in the crime.
"Having learned that the woman was receiving a financial support for her son, who went missing while performing a combat mission in the Donetsk sector, the perpetrators began to write letters on his behalf asking her to send money, clothes, documents and other necessary items to help him get out of the difficult situation he allegedly found himself in. Over the course of a year, the victim received several such SMS messages with addresses and bank accounts, to which she sent almost 415,000 hryvnias in total.
The perpetrators were not going to stop there, but were preparing to send new heartbreaking "letters from a son to his mother", the statement said.
The police searched the offenders' residences. They found material evidence, including documents of the missing soldier, bank cards to which the victim's money was transferred, phones used to commit fraud, and other items relevant to the case.
In one of the phones, the police found a new message to the victim asking her to send another 80,000 hryvnias, which they did not have time to send.
The defendants have been served a notice of suspicion of misappropriation of property by deception (fraud) committed by a group of persons, under martial law, in particular repeatedly, which caused significant damage to the victim, as well as misappropriation of a passport and other important personal documents by deception committed by a group of persons.
According to the sanctions of Article 357(3) and Article 190(2) and (3) of the Criminal Code, the offenders face up to five years in prison.
The issue of choosing a preventive measure is being decided.
