Report: Panagiotis Vlahoutsakos
A Ukrainian company is allegedly involved in a fraud with strong indications of money laundering, which, in order not to arouse suspicion, uses unsuspecting citizens of all nationalities (including Greeks) as collaborators-intermediaries.
The company is headquartered in Kiev, Ukraine, with offices in Tbilisi, Berlin, Bucharest and London. Its specialties, according to its leaders, are the creation of production units in developing countries, the technological study of new product creation and the improvement of business management systems.
The way she approaches her "future partners", at a time when the unemployment rate exceeds 27%, is simple and the lure is great.
As the report shows, people who work with the company search the internet and find resumes of people looking for work at companies specializing in marketing. They then contact those interested via email and make them a collaboration proposal.
The daily wage is high and the work that someone who wishes to cooperate has to do is very simple. To transfer money from various countries of the world to Ukraine via Western Union. For this specific job, his remuneration, according to the company, will amount to 1,000 euros per month for part-time work and 2,300 euros for full-time work. However, in addition to the salary, the partner will also receive 5% of the money he transfers.
The approach email
So who could resist such a job offer… Nobody. One of those who could not resist and accepted the offer of the company in question is K. H. from Crete. It was early November, when he opened his email and found the following message.
As stated in the email, along with the message, the company employee also attached an employment contract which K. X. would have to complete if he wanted to work with the company.
And so it was. As informed by a company employee who - according to her statement - called him from London, K. H. would have to open a bank account at any bank he wanted and send the company the relevant information (such as the name of the bank, name of the account holder, account number, IBAN and BIC).
The reasons why he should do this are explained in the email below…
Money transfers
Somehow, the private individual started working on behalf of the Ukrainian company. "I asked them why the money should be transferred through me to Ukraine since the company's headquarters are located there. They told me that the reasons were tax, since Ukraine is not in the European Union," he notes, speaking to zougla.gr.
The first money transfer took place on November 21, 2013, when 1,724 euros were deposited into the private account, which he was supposed to transfer via Western Union to a Ukrainian. And so it happened…
After a few days, he received another email from the company informing him that he would have to make another money transfer, which again was destined for a person residing in Ukraine.
They blocked the account
However, after the second transfer, the problems began. The bank with which the individual was working notified him that his account would be closed as he was considered suspicious.
"Initially, an employee of the bank where I had opened an account contacted me and told me that he was blocking my account because in the transfer I made on November 21, an employee from a German bank called them and told them that he wanted the money he deposited back. The same thing happened with the second transfer. Finally, on December 5, an employee of the bank contacted me again and told me that my account would be closed as a suspected fraud," he points out in the online newspaper.
Indications of money laundering
Tax administration officials, contacted by zougla.gr, referring to the history of K. Ch., expressed the opinion that there are strong indications of money laundering.
"Either it is fraud or money laundering using the "bank to bank" method. In other words, they are transferring black money and legalizing it through Greece. The authorities should investigate," they noted.
Source: zougla.gr
