Ukrainian con artists nabbed for stealing from fallen soldiers' accounts
The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police have arrested con artists who were stealing money from the bank accounts of fallen soldiers from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The detainees face eight years in prison.
8:22 PM EDT, July 11, 2024
Investigators determined that the perpetrators took all the savings of soldiers whose bodies were brought from the front to Dnipro for forensic examination.
“To commit the crime, the accused enlisted the help of an employee at the regional forensic medicine office. He stole the personal belongings of fallen soldiers in the morgue,” said Artem Dechtiarenko, a spokesman for the Security Service of Ukraine.
Among the stolen items were payment cards and mobile phones, whose numbers were registered in online banking. “Through the cards and phones, the criminals hacked into banking apps and transferred the money to their own accounts,” he described the procedure.
This way, the involved individuals took out online loans and cashed them at nearby ATMs.
They stole more than 2.7 million hryvnias
The con artists tried to carry out their procedures as quickly as possible before financial institutions received information about the deaths of the actual account holders. "In this way, the attackers appropriated nearly 2.7 million hryvnias that belonged to the fallen defenders of Ukraine," Dechtiarenko said.
A total of five members of the criminal group were arrested. Besides the forensic office employee, the gang included an IT specialist who “hacked” the banking apps of fallen soldiers, as well as a repeat offender with a criminal past.
“During searches of the suspects’ homes and cars, mobile phones, SIM cards, and bank cards belonging to the suspects were seized, as well as cards, personal belongings, and uniforms of the fallen soldiers,” said the SBU spokesman.
The detainees were taken into custody and face eight years in prison.
