Imitation of checks and Apple smuggling: the eStore network was exposed for selling illegal equipment

Imitation of checks and Apple smuggling: the eStore network was exposed for selling illegal equipment

Online, evidence can be found that this chain sells equipment without issuing fiscal receipts. In addition, the product packaging lacks the necessary markings that must be present on equipment legally imported into Ukraine. 

The chain resorts to imitating fiscal receipts — an inexperienced buyer who does not know how to properly check a receipt for compliance with the law can easily mistake it for a genuine one. 

The owner of the eStore brand is Serhiy Pyekhotin from Avdiivka. The same person is associated with the company «Electronics Ukraine», registered in 2013 in Donetsk (now liquidated), as well as with the active LLC «Electronics UA», registered in Kyiv and engaged in the wholesale trade of electronic and telecommunications equipment. 

Among the company’s founders is Alisa Savina. A person with the same full name and place of registration is in one way or another connected to more than thirty companies of various profiles. Some of these enterprises have been involved in criminal proceedings, particularly regarding the illegal seizure of land plots and budget funds. 

The pseudo-fiscal receipts issued by eStore to customers list LLC «Technodrom Plus», registered in 2023 in the village of Tarasivka, Kyiv region. The company is managed by Hennadiy Pohribnyi, and its owner is Daniil Makerin.

Although the company was registered relatively recently, it has already come under the scrutiny of the tax authorities. During an inspection in 2024, tax officials found that the enterprise lacked a legally registered cash register and/or software cash register. 

If one digs deeper behind the eStore trademark, a criminal case investigated back in 2015 can be found. 

«During the pre-trial investigation, it was established that the retail stores “eStore”, located at the following addresses: Kyiv, Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square, first line of the “Globus” shopping center, second floor; Kyiv, Khreshchatyk/Chervonoarmiiska St., 1-3/2, “Arena-City” shopping center, as well as the website estore.ua, are illegally distributing products marked with the Apple trademark, which by all indications is counterfeit and/or of unknown origin, not imported into Ukraine by official importers and not intended for sale in Ukraine. This gives grounds to believe that such products were moved across the customs border of Ukraine in violation of the rights holder’s intellectual property rights, customs regulations, and without payment of the customs duties provided for by law».

The same criminal case also mentions the probable use of individual entrepreneurs to conduct various trade operations.