Half a million in the morning: Fraudsters are already profiting from the shelling of Kyiv

Half a million in the morning: Fraudsters are already profiting from the shelling of Kyiv

In Kyiv, fraudsters seem to already be profiting from the city’s bombing tragedy on the night of April 24.

Journalists discovered a very suspicious message about raising funds to supposedly help a family that lost their home in the Obolon district. However, there were no official reports of fires in private homes there. Furthermore, the "volunteer" who is allegedly helping to raise the money has closed their Facebook profile. The message itself looks pretty suspicious — despite this, Kyiv residents have already collected over 350,000 hryvnias in "Monobank."

"Our house burned completely"

The announcement about collecting funds for a family allegedly affected by the nighttime shelling on April 24 was published in one of the local Obolon groups on Facebook. It has 16,500 subscribers, which is a lot for a "district" page, so on Thursday morning, when the city was recovering from a major disaster, many residents saw the announcement. It looked pretty suspicious — it was written with obvious grammatical mistakes (however, the author may be understood — a tragedy occurred).

"We are asking for help. Tonight, on April 24, our house was hit, it burned completely, there is nowhere to live, no funds, no belongings, no documents. There are injured people, my husband is in the hospital (80% body burns), and we have three children. I will sincerely appreciate any help," wrote the author named Olha, noting that her goal is to raise 500,000 UAH.

No details about the incident itself, just a tearful plea for help in the message and the account number for collection

As of noon on April 24, the "account" already had over 350,000 hryvnias, which meant the author of the announcement had closed more than two-thirds of the total amount. This can be explained by the generosity of Kyiv residents — during massive catastrophes, many people actively seek ways to help those in need, and even the most cynical do not turn away from human suffering.

However, journalists still harbored doubts about the sincerity of the fundraising. These doubts were further compounded when we examined the list of destruction and damages published by the city’s military administration. According to the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, Timur Tkachenko, no private houses were damaged in the Obolon district on the night of April 24. As of 08:47, the official reported fires on the roof of a non-residential building, a fire in a warehouse, and nine burned cars in the area.

No photos, no address: what increased suspicions

The announcement in the Obolon group was posted by a man named Volodymyr Katrusha. A quick search does not find any volunteers by that name — neither in Kyiv nor in other cities (in the capital, there is only a police officer with that name in the Shevchenkivskyi district). But the author of the announcement closed his profile, which only deepened suspicions.

"I was there and talked to them, you can come in person," wrote the author to confirm his message and added a photo supposedly from the fire — a burning house and a police officer in a yellow vest standing nearby.

The house allegedly in Obolon already burned in broad daylight - although all falling debris and downing of enemy UAVs in the capital happened at night. This brought over 350,000 UAH to the "account"

Such a house could be burning in any settlement in the country, and this fire might not necessarily be related to the nighttime tragedy. Moreover, the building in the photo is burning in broad daylight (the sun rises at 06:00), while the air alert in Kyiv was "canceled" at 06:33, and even earlier, at 04:30, drone activity over the area was already neutralized (according to data from Obolon public Telegram channels).

Additionally, people who help organize collections for the needs of the affected usually publish their photos, names, and personal details — all to facilitate verification, including by law enforcement, if there is interest in the collection. In this case, there was neither an address nor photos — only the "account" details to which funds should be transferred. The media attempted to contact the "volunteer" via Facebook Messenger, but he has not yet responded.