Ukrainian Assistant to Phone Fraudsters Sentenced to Four Years in Prison
A Brno court has sentenced a 21-year-old Ukrainian to four years in prison for operating equipment in a Prague hotel used for mass calling by a criminal gang posing as bankers and police officers. The group defrauded victims of nearly nine million crowns.
Ukrainian Assistant to Phone Fraudsters Sentenced to Four Years in Prison
A Brno court on Wednesday sentenced a 21-year-old Ukrainian to four years in prison for participating in a telephone fraud scheme. Danil Novenkykh operated equipment in a Prague hotel that a criminal gang used to contact victims en masse. Through his device, other members of the gang called people and impersonated police officers or employees of the Czech National Bank. Using this method, they extorted nearly nine million crowns from dozens of victims, and failed to obtain a further two million crowns.
The young man admitted to the offence. In court, he stated that he had been recruited for the job in Warsaw and came to Prague based on an offer which he believed was for work as an operator. "I fully agree with the charge and admit guilt. But I did not want to rob anyone. I was supposed to receive 700 euros after the week was over, but they detained me before that. I did have some suspicion," he told the judge, Martin Vrbík, according to the news website Novinky.cz.
The defence sought a more lenient sentence, arguing that their client had been in custody for nearly a year, has a sick mother abroad, and received no benefit from the fraud. However, the judge imposed a four-year sentence, to which he added a ten-year ban from entering the territory of the Czech Republic and an obligation to compensate for the damage caused. Given that the convicted man is practically without property, reparation of the damage appears unlikely.
Source: Novinky.cz