The Odesa region ranked second in the number of convictions in cases involving "drops"

Two court rulings mentioning "drops" were found in the Odesa region, and another one in the Mykolaiv region. In total, at least 16 such court rulings have been identified in Ukraine over the past nearly eight years.

This information is available on the OpenDataBot platform.

“Drops” are people who, for money, allow their bank cards, accounts, or online banking credentials to be used in criminal schemes.

The courts in Kyiv issued the most such rulings—10, or 63% of the total. Two more rulings were issued in the Odesa region. One ruling each was found in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zakarpattia, Kyiv, and Mykolaiv regions.

Three convictions in cases involving “drops” have already been found this year. At the same time, no such rulings were found in the court registry for the years 2024 and 2025.

The highest number of convictions occurred in 2020—eight. Two rulings each were found for 2019 and 2021, and one conviction for 2023.

In most cases—13 out of 16—drop accounts were used in schemes related to drug trafficking. Three other convictions involved online fraud.

However, the mere mention of a “drop account” in a court ruling does not mean that the account holder was specifically convicted for providing bank details. In some cases, the drop account was only part of an overall criminal scheme, and the convicted person played a different role.

In 12 verdicts, the primary punishment was imprisonment. Sentences ranged from two to 10 years. At the same time, in eight cases, the convicted individuals were granted probation.

In four other cases, the courts imposed fines. Six rulings specified the exact amount of the fine—ranging from 98,600 to 850,000 hryvnias.

In some cases, the courts also ordered the defendants to compensate the victims for the harm caused. In one verdict, the amount totaled 8.65 million hryvnias—6.65 million hryvnias for property damage and 2 million hryvnias for emotional distress.

In two other cases, the defendants voluntarily compensated the victims a total of 42,100 hryvnias. Additionally, in two rulings, the courts ordered the defendants to pay a total of 29,800 hryvnias in court costs.

Ірина Глухова