In Odesa, scoundrels stole grain under the guise of transporters of agricultural products

A group of scoundrels was exposed in Odesa region, who defrauded entrepreneurs under the guise of transporters of agricultural products.

The suspects, disguised as transporters, managed to seize the goods of farmers worth millions of hryvnias, the Police of the Odesa region reported.

Extras provided their “services” all over the country. They searched social media for trucking ads, contacted carriers and expressed interest in their services.

Next, the men asked to send them copies of documents on the right to conduct business activities (allegedly to verify the authenticity of the carriers). And then they used the received documents to create their own announcements about the provision of logistics services.

For the conspiracy, the suspects presented themselves with fictitious names, changed SIM cards in phones and used “suspenders” on their own cars.

Entrepreneurs agreed on transportation services with fraudsters, being sure of their authenticity. After receiving information about the amount of cargo from the owners, the violators contacted real carriers, ordered a certain number of trucks for transportation, posing as the owners of the goods.

When the already loaded cars were on their way to their destination, the fraudsters informed the carriers about the change of route — and directed them to “convenient” warehouses.

In this way, the accused removed eleven trucks with more than 170 tons of soybean seeds and 160 tons of rapeseed, with a total value of UAH 6.2 million, from warehouses in the Cherkasy and Kherson regions. They managed to sell part of the agricultural products to two bona fide buyers, passing them off as their own.

Fraudsters were informed of the suspicion, depending on what was committed: in taking possession of someone else’s property by deception (fraud), committed by a group of persons according to a prior conspiracy, in particularly large quantities, under martial law, that is, under Part 5 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and in the legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means, committed by a group of persons based on a prior conspiracy – it refers to Part 2 of Art. 209 of the same code.

The maximum punishment provided by the sanctions of the articles is imprisonment for a term of five to twelve years with confiscation of property.

Previously, USM reported that the SBU detained the captain of the ship who was helping to export Ukrainian grain from Crimea.