In Lviv, an indictment has been sent to court against a 40-year-old woman accused of appropriating the savings of a 70-year-old Lviv resident in the amount of more than UAH 500,000. The indictment was prepared by prosecutors of the Halytskyi District Prosecutor’s Office of the city of Lviv.
According to the investigation, on 1 September this year the victim received a phone call from an unidentified person who introduced herself as her daughter. The pensioner was told that her daughter had allegedly been involved in a road traffic accident and needed urgent surgery costing 12,000 US dollars.
The frightened woman gathered all her savings: 10,550 US dollars and 600 euros. A taxi driver arrived to collect the money and, as has been established, he was unaware of the fraudulent scheme. He took the cash from the pensioner and handed it over to the accused during a meeting on Horodnytska Street in Lviv.
Later, the victim phoned her son and told him that his sister was allegedly undergoing surgery after the crash. The son assured his mother that his sister was fine, as he had just spoken to her on the phone. Realising she had been deceived, the Lviv resident contacted the police. The total amount of damage, after conversion, exceeds UAH 500,000.
A few days later, law enforcement officers detained the suspect in Lutsk under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. It was also established that the woman is a suspect in similar offences committed in the cities of Lutsk and Sumy. She is charged with fraud committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, on a large scale (Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of Police Division No. 1 of Lviv District Police Department No. 1 of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Lviv Region.
Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and may not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt is proved in the manner prescribed by law and confirmed by a guilty verdict of the court.