He extorted UAH 200 thousand from a military wife: SBU detains extortionist
1 November 2024 20:57
Security forces have detained a racketeer who extorted money from the wife of a missing Ukrainian soldier and threatened to kill her child. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the SBU’s message on the Telegram channel.
The attacker was a 28-year-old man from Cherkasy region. He “contacted” the families of missing defenders and promised to “return” them from captivity for a monetary reward.
In this way, the man came across the wife of a serviceman who disappeared in the Pokrovsk sector. He demanded 200 thousand UAH from his victim. To do this, he first made up a story about the soldier being a prisoner of war. In order to return him to his homeland, he needed money. The woman believed the extortionist and transferred almost 160 thousand UAH in several tranches.
But over time, the military wife had doubts about the veracity of this story. Then the suspect began to threaten her personally and intimidate her with the threat that he would kill the couple’s child.
SBU officers and police detained the man when he was receiving another UAH 30,000 from the soldier’s injured wife to his bank account.
The investigation revealed that the man was monitoring forums and social media groups where Ukrainians write about missing relatives. It was there that the offender found the information he needed. Now, if his guilt is proven, the man faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
