Fake Apartment Scam Worth UAH 14 Million Exposed Near Kyiv

In the Kyiv region, law enforcement officers reported suspicion to three fraudsters who organized a housing and construction company in Brovary, received more than UAH 14 million from buyers and disappeared, the National Police informs.

As the investigators established, the main organizer of the scheme was a 44-year-old resident of Brovary, who involved two accomplices aged 43 and 61 in the scam.

At the beginning of 2017, they created a construction company and opened an office for the sale of apartments in the future new building on Arkadiya Holuba Street.

The extras convinced future apartment owners of the attractiveness of the location, emphasizing the developed infrastructure, good transport connections and the opportunity to have a comfort-class apartment almost in Kyiv for little money. At the same time, plots were traded by square meters without any permits, and construction investors were provided with false information about the legality of construction.

According to the investigation, more than 20 investors became victims of the scam, having paid contributions for the purchase of housing. Several families of law enforcement officers were also among the victims. The fraudsters divided the received funds among themselves, after which they moved to different regions and hid for six years.

On the basis of the collected evidence, the investigators informed the defendants of suspicion under Part 4 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Fraud), which provides up to eight years of imprisonment.

Earlier, we wrote about the fact that the mayor of Kyiv temporarily removed Volodymyr Prokopiv from the position of deputy head of the KCSA for the period of verification by law enforcement agencies of the information made public by investigative journalists from Bihus Info. In the investigation "Zama Klitschko's friends are debating Kyiv: who, how and for how much", the journalists claim that two of Prokopiv's comrades, Oleksandr Poshtaryuk and Andriy Stetsenko, acquired at least six real estate properties that previously belonged to the city through private companies.

It was also reported that the family of the head of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), which investigates crimes by law enforcement officers and judges, bought a house near Kyiv, the real value of which may reach 14.5 million hryvnias . However, in his declaration, the official indicated three times less value of this property.