Fictitious disability to evade mobilisation: medical fraud scheme worth over 200 million hryvnias has been uncovered in Zaporizhzhia, - National Police. PHOTOS
Police have uncovered a criminal scheme at medical facilities in Zaporizhzhia, with those involved having made over 200 million hryvnias from fraudulent disability claims.
This was reported by Censor.NET, citing the National Police’s communications department.
Details
As noted, those involved include the head of a department at a municipal healthcare facility, the acting deputy medical director of a occupational health facility in the capital, a former employee of the State Labour Service, and intermediaries. For money, the group’s members issued forged medical documents to conscripts, which served as the basis for establishing a disability category allegedly linked to their professional activities. This enabled them to obtain a deferment from mobilisation, increased pension payments and the right to travel abroad. According to preliminary data, at least 500 people used the ‘services’ of these fraudsters. Six members of the group have been notified of the charges against them, and their assets have been seized.
Operatives from the Strategic Investigations Department of the National Police in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and investigators from the Zaporizhzhia Police Investigation Department have established that officials from state and private medical institutions, as well as private individuals, were involved in issuing fictitious diagnoses.
How did the scheme work?
Those involved in the scheme sought out conscripts and offered to "help" them obtain a disability status, allegedly resulting from exposure to harmful occupational factors at work. The cost of such "services" was 420,000 UAH per person.
For this money, the suspects fabricated a "medical history". In particular, they entered false information into official medical documents – reports, certificates and examination results – containing the "required" diagnoses, which did not correspond to the men’s actual state of health. In addition, the operators arranged fictitious inpatient treatment for their "clients" at private and public medical facilities in Zaporizhzhia.
"On the basis of the falsified medical documentation, data on the ‘diagnosed’ condition was entered into the electronic healthcare system. Subsequently, with this set of documents, the men were referred to doctors under their control at specialised occupational health institutions, who, for a fee, established a link between the acquired ‘illness’ and their professional activities and issued the relevant conclusions," the statement reads.
How many cases have been documented?
As part of the criminal proceedings, law enforcement officers have documented 32 such cases. However, according to preliminary data, in 2025 alone, participants in the scheme illegally processed around 500 fictitious disability claims.
With the support of KORD, police officers from the Strategic Investigations Department in the Zaporizhzhia, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, along with police investigators, carried out 45 searches at medical facilities, as well as at the residences and in the vehicles of those involved in the scheme across the Zaporizhzhia, Lviv and Kyiv regions. They seized cash amounting to over 7.3 million hryvnias, medical seals and stamps, medical documentation, patient files, hard drives, computer equipment, 24 mobile phones, draft records and other items that may be of evidential value.
Suspicions
According to the National Police, based on the evidence gathered, six members of the group – the head of the department, the acting deputy medical director of the capital’s occupational health facility, a former State Labour Service employee and intermediaries – have been notified of the charges against them. Depending on their involvement in the scheme, their actions are classified under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 369-2 (Abuse of influence);
- Part 1 of Article 369 (Offering, promising or providing an unlawful benefit to a public official);
- Part 3 of Article 362 (Unauthorised actions with information processed in electronic computers, automated systems, computer networks or stored on data storage media, committed by a person authorised to access such information);
- Part 1 of Article 209 (Laundering of proceeds of crime).
In addition, movable and immovable property belonging to the suspects, with a total value of over 20 million hryvnias, has been seized. This includes six vehicles and two properties in the capital and Lviv region.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. Measures are currently being taken to identify other individuals involved in the aforementioned crimes.
