In Ukraine, every second car is purchased in Kyiv. Half of this number can be safely attributed to cars bought on credit. It was this moment, albeit far from new, that a group of swindlers took advantage of, which last year left several large Kyiv banks without part of their funds. The cost of the scam was more than two million dollars.
How is a Loan to Buy a Car?
Let’s say you have looked after yourself for a very expensive car in one of the salons. You come to the bank and write a statement saying that you want to take out a loan to buy a car. Accordingly, provide all the necessary documents on solvency.
Most of the time, they don’t give you cash. Bank employees contact the car dealership, and after making sure that you really buy a car from them, they transfer funds to the seller’s account. You get a car and all you have to do is pay off the monthly loan payments.
It was according to this scheme that the scam was planned by an Armenian citizen who was on the international wanted list for a series of crimes of medium gravity and especially grave ones.
And so, a group of four people created a car dealership that existed only on paper. The decorated car dealership was a figurehead. Then a respectable man came to the bank and stated that he wanted to buy a car on credit and not just any, but very expensive. Prices ranged from $60,000 to $100,000. The man provided a passport, which was fake, provided the necessary list of documents on his solvency and a list of documents from a car dealership. Bank employees, guided by internal rules, made a call to a car dealership, where a friendly manager confirmed that this city really wants to buy a car of a famous brand from them.
Further, everything is simple. The bank transferred the entire amount to the account of the car dealership, and at the end of the payment period it turned out that payments from the client should not be expected. Thus, more than twenty banks lost a very decent amount of money in a month. Fortunately, the gang was apprehended. Only the organizer managed to escape, who took with him part of the stolen funds. The banal greed of swindlers helped law enforcement agencies. After the first banks failed to receive payments a month later, an investigation began, and the trail quickly led to a non-existent car dealership, whose “client” was already taking out the next loan.
Similar cases of scams were periodically noticed in Russia, but thanks to procedures that enhance security, most often criminal activity was stopped at the first attempt.