The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office has completed the investigation into a case involving an organized criminal group whose members defrauded citizens of millions of hryvnias using broadcasts featuring so-called ‘psychics’.
This is reported by Finway
Television Fraud: How the Scheme Worked
According to the investigation, an unemployed resident of Kharkiv created a criminal group that included three other local residents. They organized remote ‘healing’ through a popular television program. The group members, using fictitious names, presented themselves as ‘psychics’ and convinced viewers to transfer money to controlled accounts for conducting ‘rituals’. By promising to treat serious illnesses, ‘remove curses’, and provide ‘healing’, they targeted vulnerable groups of citizens.
Million-Hryvnia Losses and Accountability of the Organizers
The victims of this fraudulent scheme included residents from various regions of Ukraine, among them seriously ill individuals and their relatives. The total amount of losses incurred by citizens is nearly 6 million hryvnias. All the money obtained was withdrawn from bank cards by the scheme participants and distributed among themselves.
‘Prosecutors from the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office have sent an indictment against four residents of Kharkiv to the court,’ the prosecutor’s office reports.
The organizer of the group is additionally charged with the legalization of property obtained through criminal means. The pre-trial investigation in this case was conducted by investigators from the Main Directorate of the National Police of Kharkiv region with operational support from the Cybercrime Prevention Department of the region.