Police have exposed fraudsters who swindled over million hryvnias by promising fake assistance. PHOTOS

Law enforcement officers have dismantled a large-scale fraud ring whose members used live streams on TikTok to pose as representatives of well-known Ukrainian and international charitable organisations and swindle money from members of the public under the pretence of arranging financial aid.

This was reported by the press office of the National Police of Ukraine, according to Censor.NET.

Details

According to the investigation, the perpetrators posed as official representatives of platforms and foundations such as UNITED24, the Olena Zelenska Foundation, the ‘Come Back Alive’ Charitable Foundation, the Red Cross and UNICEF. Among those defrauded were civilians and servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The group’s organisers fully coordinated the process: from creating phishing sites mimicking well-known organisations to channelling the funds. The direct perpetrators followed a clear procedure:

They conducted live streams on TikTok, where they urged people to register for ‘financial assistance’.
To maximise their credibility, they displayed forged documents and fabricated screenshots of supposedly successful payments during the broadcasts.
Using social engineering techniques, they tricked victims into clicking on phishing links and entering their bank card details.
In some cases, victims were persuaded to make a ‘test payment’ to the fraudsters’ accounts — supposedly to verify their card.

However, once the money had been received, the live streams were stopped, the accounts were deleted, and the victims were simply blocked. The total amount of documented losses already exceeds 1 million hryvnias.

Cyber police and police investigators carried out 21 authorised searches at the suspects’ residences in the Zhytomyr region. During the searches, the following items were seized from the perpetrators:

computer equipment and digital storage media;
around 20 mobile phones;
over 50 bank cards and 120 SIM cards;
draft notes, cash and 8 cars.

The criminal case is under investigation, and investigative measures are ongoing. The offence carries a penalty of up to 8 years’ imprisonment. Law enforcement officers are currently identifying all those affected by the cybercriminals’ actions.