In Lviv, an indictment has been submitted to court against two itinerant fraudsters accused of seizing a substantial sum of money from a 72-year-old Lviv resident. According to the investigation, the man handed over 16,000 US dollars and 2,600 euros to the perpetrators after believing a fabricated story about an urgent operation for his daughter following an alleged road traffic accident.
Law enforcement officers established that on 13 August at around 16:00, the pensioner received a phone call from an unknown man who introduced himself as a medic and said that his daughter had been involved in a road traffic accident, had sustained serious injuries, and that 20,000 US dollars were needed for urgent surgery. The victim replied that he had 16,000 US dollars and 2,600 euros at home, to which the caller responded that this amount would be sufficient.
Shortly afterwards, the suspects in the case arrived at the Lviv resident’s home, and the man handed over the agreed sum. Later he found out that his daughter had not been in an accident and turned to the police, realising he had fallen victim to fraud.
To solve the crime, officers from the criminal police, investigators and staff from other units of Police Station No.1 of Lviv District Police Department No.1, as well as detectives from the criminal investigation department of Lviv Region Police, were brought in. Law enforcement officers established that those involved in committing the crime were a 25-year-old Kyiv resident and an 18-year-old resident of Kyiv Region. They were detained under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine as they were heading to the railway station, planning to leave Lviv as quickly as possible. Physical evidence was seized from the suspects.
The pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings opened under Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (fraud) has been completed, and the indictment has been submitted to the court. The sanction under this article provides for a penalty of up to eight years’ imprisonment.
In addition, it was established that the older of the accused committed a criminal offence under Part 5 of Article 407 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (unauthorised abandonment of a military unit or place of service). The indictment in this episode has also been referred to the court for consideration, where the prescribed penalty is imprisonment for a term of five to ten years.