Kherson Man Faces Extended Bail Over $45K Fraud Scheme Involving Non-Existent Goods

The resident of Kherson, together with his accomplices, organized a series of frauds involving the sale of non-existent goods worth tens of thousands of dollars and euros. The court extended his bail until June 4, 2025, while the investigation is ongoing.

The Zavodskyi District Court of Mykolaiv granted the request of the prosecutor of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office to extend the term of the duties imposed on the fraud suspect. The man in question is suspected of a series of frauds involving tens of thousands of dollars and euros that lasted from 2018 to 2021 and covered Kyiv, Kherson, Sumy region, and even other countries.

According to the investigation, the defendant in the case, together with three accomplices, organized a fraudulent scheme to sell non-existent goods - lumber and chicken eggs. For this purpose, they used a controlled private enterprise, Masis PTM, which was first registered in Kyiv region and later in Sumy region. Foreign currency accounts were opened in OTP Bank on its behalf, and ads about the profitable sale of timber appeared on the Internet.

In 2021, the fictitious person entered into a fictitious contract with the first victim, who, unsuspectingly, transferred USD 12,200 for lumber that he never received. The money was immediately transferred to the account of another company, Axels Group LLC, from where the funds were distributed among the participants in the criminal scheme.

In another case, the scammers organized an "excursion" to a supposedly real company near Yampil, during which they introduced themselves as heads of other companies, drove customers around in luxury cars, showed them production facilities, and assured them of the availability of timber. As a result, a representative of the Lithuanian company transferred them another 13,230 euros.

The third episode concerns the sale of chicken eggs. In the capital's Gulliver shopping center, one of the suspects introduced himself as the head of Yug Agrodnepr LLC and convinced a representative of the Azerbaijani company Pescado that he had a large batch of products. Another USD 20 thousand was received for the goods that did not exist.

By court order, the defendant went into hiding for a long time, did not respond to investigators' calls and was put on the wanted list. His whereabouts were established only in February 2025, after which the investigation was resumed.

After the trial, the court ordered the suspect not to leave his place of residence without permission, to surrender his passport, and to report any changes in his place of work or residence. These obligations have now been extended until June 4, 2025 inclusive. If he fails to comply with the conditions, he may be subject to a stricter preventive measure or a fine.

The case is under pre-trial investigation under Part 3 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - fraud committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons on a large scale.

Recently, a court in Mykolaiv region seized the property of one of the companies involved in the case of misappropriation of funds and agricultural machinery. According to the investigation, in September 2024, the company's director was dismissed at a general meeting, and a new manager, the current victim, took her place. However, after that, the former director managed to withdraw funds from the company's accounts and take out property, including equipment and goods.

In addition, in March, a court in Mykolaiv imposed a pre-trial restraint on a woman suspected of illegal groundwater extraction. According to the investigation, she was a member of a criminal group organized by a former deputy of Mykolaiv City Council. The extracted water was sold at municipal drinking water points.

Анна Бальчінос