Collected 12 million “for the rehabilitation of sick children”: the police exposed the fraudsters – News

The police exposed fraudsters pretending to be benefactors

National Police of Ukraine

Law enforcement officers exposed a group of swindlers who allegedly collected funds for sick children. They installed a desk organizer and three call centers, in which about 40 operators worked.

As reported by the National Police of Ukraine, the fraudsters operated in the Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions.

The head of the criminal group is a 37-year-old resident of Kyiv. The woman clearly assigned roles among six residents of Zhytomyr, one of whom was her own sister.

Each of the participants had their own legend. For example, someone presented himself as a volunteer and extorted money to “help” children with disabilities. Other participants collected money for orphanages, low-income families, etc.

“In this way, they managed to swindle more than 12 million hryvnias.

To transfer the illegally obtained funds into cash, the accomplices used fictitious natural persons-entrepreneurs who had no relation to the charitable funds“, the law enforcement officers noted.

Fraudsters used real photos and stories of sick children to gain the trust of potential benefactors.

One of those who suffered from their actions was Svitlana, the mother of two 13-year-old children with disabilities who need rehabilitation. The woman provided photos and diagnoses to a charitable foundation, which was supposed to raise funds for her son and daughter.

But of the 400,000 hryvnias collected by the fraudsters, they gave only 20,000 hryvnias to the children, and appropriated the rest.

Law enforcement officers conducted 35 searches on the territory of Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions, during which physical evidence was seized – terminals, computer equipment, seals of charitable funds, etc.

Seven defendants were charged with fraud committed on a particularly large scale as part of an organized group.

A petition has already been submitted to the court for the selection of preventive measures in the form of detention for the defendants. They face up to 12 years in prison.