In Ukraine, cases of fraud have been recorded where criminals offered citizens fake hryvnias and often foreign currency. The offenders sold counterfeit banknotes during personal meetings, attracting their victims with appealing exchange rates. Fake bills were offered at 30-65% of the market value of real money.
This is reported by Finway
This information was revealed by representatives of the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB). The announcement did not specify which currency the counterfeit banknotes belonged to, but from the published photographs, it can be inferred that they pertained to US dollars and euros.
Law enforcement officials noted that, according to preliminary data, the criminal group included several residents of the Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions. The quality of the counterfeit banknotes was sufficiently high.
“They found their clients through personal connections. One of the suspects was detained during an attempt to sell counterfeit 30 thousand US dollars,” the statement said.
As part of the investigation, law enforcement also conducted searches in Kyiv and Vinnytsia. As a result of these actions, counterfeit money amounting to nearly 2.3 million hryvnias in hryvnia equivalent was seized.
Currently, two suspects have been charged with committing a criminal offense under part 2 of Article 199 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – the storage, acquisition, transportation, and sale of illegally produced foreign currency, committed by an organized group in particularly large amounts. The offenders face imprisonment for a term of 5 to 10 years.