According to the investigation, in February of this year, a 20-year-old resident of Zaporizhzhia organized a fraudulent scheme in Lviv to seize the victims' funds under the guise of a currency exchange point.

He involved two of his acquaintances in the "case": a man from Zaporizhzhia and a woman from Dnipro.

All roles in the group were clearly defined:

- the organizer was responsible for the overall management and coordination of the group;

- one of the executors found a premises in the center of Lviv, rented it, and set it up for the operation of a simulated currency exchange point;

- the woman played the role of "cashier" in the pseudo-exchange.

After researching the currency market, the suspects established the most favorable exchange rate for themselves and waited for a client with a large sum of money.

In mid-April of this year, a man approached them who needed to exchange currency for hryvnias. After agreeing on a meeting time, he arrived at the exchange point.

Inside, he was met by the "cashier," while her accomplice was "covering" her outside, and the organizer constantly coordinated their actions via conference call.

After receiving foreign currency from the client, the woman fled with it through a specially prepared exit, hidden in a niche of a wardrobe in her office.

Thus, the group members seized 50,000 US dollars from the victim.

The executors were detained in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine almost immediately after the crime was committed.

The organizer was hiding from the investigation, but thanks to the coordinated work of law enforcement, he was found.

Under the procedural guidance of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office, the organizer was informed of suspicion of organizing fraud committed as part of an organized group (part 3 of Article 27 – part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and the executors were charged with fraud committed as part of an organized group (part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

At the request of the prosecution, all members of the criminal group are in custody.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Lviv region, with operational support from the UCR in the Lviv region of the National Police of Ukraine, based on materials from the SBU in the Lviv region.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered 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.