“I will appeal the decision”: the victim of Ukrainian scammers announced the suspension of the investigation of their cases in Germany

Ukrainian and European law enforcers have suspended the investigation of criminal cases against swindlers from Dnepropetrovsk (Dnipro), who deceived residents of Russia, Europe and the CIS countries.

As the victims themselves told RT, they had been seeking a trial for more than a year and were able to track the location of the criminals using cyber wallets.

But law enforcement officers, referring to what is happening in Ukraine, do not take any measures and do not even try to block fraudulent sites.

At the same time, scammers continue to deceive gullible citizens, the number of victims of their actions has already exceeded 250.

Earlier, RT told how more than 100 residents of Russia and EU countries became victims of a group of scammers operating on the network.

The geography of crimes covers different states, but almost all the victims have Russian roots.

Criminals operate according to a well-established scheme.

Under the guise of pretty girls, they get to know people on the Internet.

After the communication becomes confidential, the "stranger" reports that he is successfully investing in securities, and recommends a trusted "broker" who will help you make quick money.

“These people first suggested how to transfer money into bitcoins, and then they pointed out a site where you can allegedly buy securities for cryptocurrency,” Sergey Kovalev (name changed) describes the scheme.

According to him, the site turned out to be a fake platform, from which money was immediately taken away.

At the same time, for some time, the victims were told that investments bring profit.

The second scheme began with social media advertising on behalf of well-known banks.

By clicking on the link, people got to the same "investment consultants".

We reached the Dnieper

As Alexander T. (name changed), one of the coordinators of the initiative group of victims, who lives in Germany, told RT, they conducted their own investigation.

“We were able to collect evidence, trace some cyber wallets, all traces led to Ukraine,” he said.

The evidence was handed over to the police.

But there, according to the man, they were in no hurry to use them.

“We have been applying to all departments for a year, seeking to open a case.

We wrote to Odessa and Kharkov, but they said that they had no scammers.

And in the end, in Dnipro, they admitted that they knew that they had organizations of fraudsters, and this was their “blind spot,” he says.

Oleksandr added that the Ukrainian police opened a criminal case only a year after the start of the correspondence.

“In February, the Dnipro police opened a criminal case.

The investigator contacted me, he wanted to know what we had already managed to find out ourselves, he admitted that there was a problem,” says Alexander.

We finally have hope.

The German police said they would send all the information they had gathered here to Ukraine.

We already had information on one of the suspects, who was registered on the territory of the Dnieper, the local police said that they also know this person.”

However, on February 22, the investigation of the case was closed.

“The investigator wrote to me that the case was stopped, made it clear that the criminals would never be found,” recalls the interlocutor of RT.

“A notice has come that the case has been suspended”

After Ukraine, the cases began to be closed by the European police.

“I received a notice last week that the case was suspended.

It says what measures were taken and that they did not give anything, but I believe that not enough was done.

Even the information that we ourselves collected, we did not work out all of it, ”says Alexander.

He notes that the cases were also closed according to the statements of the other victims.

The police notice indicated that the case was closed due to the situation in Ukraine, but that it could be reopened in the future.

“I will now appeal this decision.

I am preparing a detailed justification on the points that an insufficient investigation was carried out.

I repeatedly provided valuable information that was not verified.

I will also ask why they did not turn to Russian investigators for help, where similar cases are being investigated?

Why didn’t they establish interdepartmental cooperation here, ”says Alexander.

According to RT, Russia is now investigating 40 criminal cases against the same scammers.

At the same time, Alexander says that in Germany the investigation has practically not moved off the ground, although the victims were able to track most of the sites through which money was taken from them.

According to them, most of the servers with these Internet resources are located in the Netherlands, but no one tried to find and seize them.

Lawyer Ramil Gizatullin notes that he does not understand the inaction of European law enforcement officers in investigating crimes from which EU citizens have suffered.

“Law enforcement agencies have already developed an effective methodology for investigating cyber fraud.

A worthy example is the result of a joint operation by the United States and Germany to close the largest online drug trading platform, ”he recalled.

The number of victims is growing

However, according to the victims, scammers continue to deceive gullible citizens.

“Since February 22, there has been a lull, this finally confirmed our version that the traces lead to Ukraine.

People, apparently, were not up to it, but a month later the attackers fully resumed their fishing, ”says a representative of the initiative group.

In March and April, at least 15 more people became victims of fraudsters.

“Someone was immediately deceived for 12 million rubles, someone for 2-4 million, one guy in Germany, who was divorced through a dating site, lost €4,000.

These are only those who contacted us, decided to find those who stole the money.

It happens that people do not want to get involved or it takes them longer to realize that they have been deceived and they need to act, ”Alexander explained.

In addition, attacks on those who have long been victims of fraudsters have resumed.

They are trying to breed them for the second time, offering assistance in returning money for a "modest" percentage of the amount.

This time the criminals act on behalf of lawyers or representatives of foreign financial regulators.

“After a slight lull, scammers began to write and call me and other members of our group.

Tellingly, they began to pull at the same time everyone who had suffered before.

That is, they obviously raised the contact database again and began to work on it, ”Alexander sums up.