The Office of the Prosecutor General is conducting procedural oversight in the criminal proceedings regarding the creation and leadership of a criminal organization, participation in it, as well as extortion (Part 1, 2 of Article 255, Part 4 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Earlier, we reported that law enforcement officers uncovered a criminal organization that extorted money from elderly people under the guise of selling "medications" (dietary supplements) through a network of call centers. Currently, new episodes have been documented in this same criminal proceeding, repeated searches have been conducted, and additional suspicions have been announced.

According to the investigation, residents of Dnipropetrovsk region organized the operation of call centers in several regions, which were engaged in extorting money from elderly people. Members of the criminal organization, including minors, sent them packages with bio-additives disguised as medications that they had not ordered throughout 2023-2024. After that, they called the victims, posing as employees of state authorities, and demanded payment for the goods at inflated prices.

In case of refusal to accept the packages, the suspects, pretending to be employees of the state executive service or the Pension Fund, threatened to initiate enforcement proceedings, impose significant fines, confiscate property, or block pension cards - often the only source of income for the victims. Under constant psychological pressure, the victims were forced to transfer money.

The vast majority of the victims are elderly people whose health has deteriorated due to systematic psychological pressure.

Additionally, during the investigation, a fact of extortion involving the transfer of another person's property from the victim was documented, during which physical violence was applied, resulting in the victim being coerced into handing over their own funds amounting to over 1.2 million hryvnias to the perpetrators.

As a result of repeated searches conducted in the territories of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, a number of physical evidence indicating the involvement of the mentioned individuals in illegal activities have been discovered and seized.

Within this same criminal proceeding, an additional six individuals have been notified of suspicion for their participation in the criminal organization and extortion (Part 1, 2 of Article 255, Part 4 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and three individuals for extortion that caused significant property damage under Part 4 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Main Investigative Department of the National Police of Ukraine with operational support from the Department of Criminal Investigation of the National Police of Ukraine.

We remind you that the Office of the Prosecutor General systematically counters the activities of fraudulent call centers. Only in recent months, prosecutors, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and international partners, have shut down 277 such sites in Kyiv, Dnipro, as well as in Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Lviv, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, and Odesa regions.

The Office of the Prosecutor General urges citizens to be vigilant and not to share payment card details, CVV codes, passwords, and one-time confirmation codes with strangers. More information on combating fraud and ways to protect personal data can be found in the video material on the official YouTube channel of the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Note: According to Part One of Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a court verdict.