The SBI has notified of suspicion of a group of scammers who took property from Ukrainian citizens, including those who are underage

The SBI employees exposed an organized criminal group that was fraudulently taking the property of Ukrainian citizens, including those who were not underage.

The criminal group included a former deputy of one of the regional councils of Ukraine and a former head of one of the departments of the National Police of Ukraine, notaries, as well as foreigners.

Scammers submitted invalid data to official documents and made unauthorized changes to the official registers.  This way they took the property and then legalized it through various illegal schemes.

It was established that the group obtained the property of Ukrainian citizens for at least 2.2 million hryvnias. Other details are still being investigated. A 10-year-old child was among the victims of this scheme.

Searches of the members of the organized group were conducted under the operational supervision of the Main Operational Departement of the SBI and the Department of Internal Security of the National Security Service of Ukraine. During the investigative action,s the documents that confirm the commission of the crimes, mobile phones, data storage devices, originals of documents, as well as the seals of various state institutions and courts were taken away.

At this moment, the organizer of the illegal group has been notified about the suspicion of Part 1 and Part 3 Article 357 of CCU (Stealing, embezzlement or extortion of documents, stamps and seals), of Part 3 Article 358 of CCU (Forgery of documents), Part 3 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 209 of CCU (Legalization of proceeds from crime),  Part 4 of Article 190 of CCU (Fraud).

Also under these articles and uart 2 of Article 364 of the CCU (Abuse of authority), three members of the organized group and a private notary were notified of suspicion

The article sanction provides for imprisonment for up to 12 years.

Investigative actions continue, and other members of the organized group and individuals who contributed to the crimes are being identified.

The procedural guidance is provided by The Office of the Prosecutor General.