In the capital of Ukraine, law enforcement has apprehended two individuals who, impersonating SBU officers, defrauded pensioners out of more than 4.5 million hryvnias.

The criminals took all of the victims' savings under the pretense of checking their connections with the aggressor state. Thanks to the swift actions of the police, the fraudsters were arrested and part of the stolen money was recovered. They face up to 12 years in prison.

The operation to stop the criminals was conducted by the capital's main police department and the Darnytsia police department in collaboration with investigators and criminal analysis analysts.

According to law enforcement, the scam involved two unemployed residents of Kharkiv, aged 36 and 42. The fraudsters traveled to Kyiv to deceive elderly individuals, demanding large sums of money under the guise of a “check.”

Initially, they contacted the victims by phone, posing as security service employees and inviting elderly Kyiv residents for questioning regarding possible collaboration with the aggressor nation. The basis for these accusations were dietary supplements that the women had purchased through misleading advertisements, supposedly produced in Russia. To prove their innocence, the victims were required to provide all their savings for a so-called “check.” The victims were local residents aged between 66 and 79.

The police arrested the accomplices under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. During a vehicle search, authorities found the money that the fraudsters had taken.

Under the supervision of the Darnytsia District Prosecutor's Office, the fraudsters have been charged under part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for fraud committed by an organized group in especially large amounts. The sanction for this article provides for up to 12 years of imprisonment with property confiscation. The court has chosen a preventive measure in the form of detention with the right to post bail of 908.4 thousand hryvnias for each suspect.

Currently, search operations are underway to identify other accomplices, and the involvement of the suspects in similar crimes in the capital is being investigated.