Posed as a volunteer: woman scammed families of missing servicemen and received 3 years in prison

In Chernivtsi, the court found a woman guilty who, posing as a volunteer, deceived the families of missing servicemen. She gave relatives false information about the condition of their loved ones and asked for money allegedly for evacuation, a car, or treatment.

This was reported by the Telegram channel “Sudom po skhemam” with reference to case No. 725/3962/26.

The Chernivtsi District Court of Chernivtsi considered the criminal proceedings against Halyna Dushchak. She was accused of a series of frauds under Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — fraud committed repeatedly using electronic computing equipment.

The investigation and the court established that from November 2025 to January 2026, Dushchak searched Facebook for posts by people looking for missing servicemen — husbands, brothers, and sons.

She then contacted the relatives of the servicemen via fake accounts and messengers Telegram and WhatsApp, posing as a volunteer. The woman claimed that their loved ones were alive, in serious condition, or wounded in the “gray zone.”

She demanded money for evacuation, a car, or hospitalization. At least five families of servicemen fell victim to her actions. They transferred between 5,000 and 29,300 UAH to cards of PrivatBank, Oschadbank, and A-Bank.

In court, Dushchak fully admitted her guilt. She also stated that her own husband had been a serviceman and had died.

When imposing the sentence, the court took into account that the woman is a widow and has two minor children. At the same time, the court noted that the crimes were committed against people who were in a difficult psychological state and hoped to receive information about their missing relatives.

Dushchak also did not take any measures throughout the entire period to compensate the victims for the damage caused.

On August 5, 2026, the court concluded that it was impossible to reform the woman without isolating her from society. She was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment with actual serving of the sentence.

The term of imprisonment will be counted from the moment of actual detention — January 28, 2026.

The iPhone 14 mobile phone used to commit the crimes was ordered by the court to be confiscated in favor of the state. The funds seized during the search are to be returned to the victims.