How a fraudster, pretending to be a volunteer, lured more than 4 million hryvnia “to drones”

Businessman Oleg really wanted to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Therefore, I gladly responded to the offer to finance the purchase of drones from Dmitry Molodtsov, who introduced himself as an employee of the Sergei Pritula Charitable Foundation.

The entrepreneur managed to transfer 104 thousand dollars to Molodtsov in a few weeks. Before I realized that I was dealing with a scammer.

Oleg says that he also found other victims of Molodtsov’s financial scams. The sums are also considerable: Pavel was deceived by the “volunteer” for 107 thousand dollars, Igor lost 365 thousand hryvnia, and Vika’s acquaintance with Molodtsov cost more than 60 thousand hryvnia.

These are not all those who suffered from the actions of the swindler: Oleg found several dozen more people who donated or “invested” in Dmitry from 100 dollars to more than 150 thousand. Some of them tried to get their money back through the courts, while others gave up on the situation and vowed “not to be a sucker anymore.”

Oleg first turned to the police, and then the State Bureau of Investigation became interested in Dmitry Molodtsov. Following the example of the businessman, some of the people deceived by Molodtsov volunteered to write statements to the State Bureau of Investigation. Until recently, the “volunteer” himself was a soldier of the National Guard, but in June 2024 it turned out that he had escaped from the unit - after which he was allegedly seen in Poland.

Journalists were able to communicate with people who claim that Molodtsov “swindled” them out of considerable sums. They even found a fugitive draft dodger who confirmed that Dmitry was now abroad.

How did it happen that Molodtsov was able to deceive adults and educated people, among whom were lawyers and businessmen? Will the victims ever be able to at least partially recover their funds?

Was charming and persuasive

Dmitry Molodtsov turned out to be a good friend of people from Oleg’s social circle. These people, formerly famous athletes in Ukraine, became military personnel. Dmitry was for them a person who works at the Pritula Foundation and can help with drones. He became such a person for Oleg.

“Dima showed me his ID as a fund employee and photographs of him next to Pritula. He talked a lot about the work of the foundation, so I had no reason not to believe him,” recalls Oleg.

In response to a request from hromadske, the Sergei Pritula Charitable Foundation responded that Molodtsov “never had an employment relationship” with the organization. True, “several times on a volunteer basis” he participated in the unloading of humanitarian aid, but “he was not given a volunteer certificate.”

Later, Oleg learned that Dima entered the lives of other victims through mutual acquaintances. For example, Pavel knew him as the boyfriend of his wife’s friend. Igor is like a good friend of his sister.

During his transactions, Dmitry did not put a knife to anyone’s throat. Somehow it turned out that people themselves were happy to give him money, to sincerely help. Dima found a “key” for each one. For example, he came to Pavel in a brand new expensive car in an expensive suit - he was a kind of embodiment of success and respectability. But with Igor, on the contrary, he seemed poor and pressed for pity.

He stands in front of me, so confused, he says that he doesn’t have money to pay for a hotel room, doesn’t have food. He says that besides me, he has no one else to turn to. Fuck, I bought him food, paid for that hotel, bought his phones from the pawnshop. Igor, deceived by Dmitry Molodtsov

The man won over Vika and Yulia with his sociability and touching stories about how his parents don’t understand him and his management doesn’t appreciate him. He also courted women and invited them for a walk.

“It was like he was hypnotizing. Somehow he’ll look at you in such a way that you think: God, there’s a little boy who needs to be cuddled,” admits Vika.

Dmitry always started things from afar: pleasant communication, joint recreation, conversations about life. The next step is to talk about profitable investment options. Then - a story about your business idea. And only after that - an offer to join her with money. He even supposedly sincerely warned about possible risks. And people happily joined in.

Dmitry has two higher educations - legal and economics. He looks like a specialist who knows a lot of things, can talk about it in a competent language and very convincingly - and you believe that there is no feeling of danger. Pavel, deceived by Dmitry Molodtsov

Dmitry “conned” some into allegedly producing and selling butter, some into transactions with cryptocurrency, and some into loans from a pawnshop. There were women who took money for Dima from the cash registers of their institutions: Molodtsov promised to return it literally “by the evening” or at least “by tomorrow.”

The illusion of vigorous activity

Taking photographs of Dmitry with Sergei Pritula as credentials, Oleg in June 2023 agreed to the scheme proposed by the swindler.

Whenever possible, military personnel make partial prepayments for drones. The rest of the funding comes from Oleg. The drones are sold to fighters, and the money received from them goes back to purchasing drones. Dima explained that military personnel want to make 100% payment for drones upon receipt of them, which is why Oleg’s money is needed.

Molodtsov compiled a table of orders and prepayments. He constantly reported to Oleg: these customers make a 30 percent advance payment, these customers make a 10 percent advance payment. These drones have already been shipped, and these are on the way. Dmitry even showed Oleg business correspondence on the purchase and delivery of drones - so the benefactor got the impression that they were writing from different people who were actively involved in logistics.

Dima masterfully created the appearance of a real process, which could become more complicated due to the war: somewhere the payment did not go through, somewhere the car did not arrive. And then it turned out that no drones were purchased at all. Perhaps the three that he brought to show me - as I now understand, in order to finally gain my trust. Oleg, deceived by Dmitry Molodtsov

When it came to “business projects,” Dmitry acted in a similar way. For example, in the case with Pavel, the fraudster spent two years creating the appearance of vigorous production activity. To create the illusion of successful investments, Igor even took the victim with him to the enterprise, where he “conducted negotiations.” More precisely, the investor was sitting in a car on the territory of the enterprise while Dmitry was “discussing investments” with someone somewhere. Even now Igor cannot explain to himself why he did not insist on his participation in those “negotiations.”

Dmitry convinced Oleg that the number of orders for drones was increasing, so more funds were needed. Oleg first gave his own money, and then his family’s money. He warned that these last ones must be returned before such and such a date. Dmitry promised, but did not return it, but on the contrary, he again asked for more and more.

“This alarmed me. I called mutual friends. They said that Dmitry took money from them using the same scheme - and also did not return it. Through the Internet, I contacted other people whom Molodtsov had scammed for money. Then I realized that I was dealing with a fraudster,” recalls Oleg.

In response to his demand to return all 104 thousand dollars, Molodtsov called himself a scoundrel and staged a scene of repentance. He admitted that he did not buy any drones, and allegedly lost all that money. He assured that he would definitely give them back, it just takes time. He even wrote a receipt to Oleg that he borrowed money from him and undertakes to repay it monthly until August 2024. To confirm his integrity, in a year he only deposited 40 thousand on Oleg’s card once.

After Dmitry gradually collects a certain amount of funds from you, he talks about some kind of force majeure that prevents him from returning the money to you. At the same time, Dmitry does not refuse to give them away - he always refers to temporary difficulties that prevent him from doing this right here and now. By doing this he disarms you. Pavel, deceived by Dmitry Molodtsov

So the fraudster “disarmed” Oleg with similar promises. Realizing that he could not return the money on his own, the man turned to law enforcement officers back in September last year. For almost a year, Oleg tried to intensify the investigation against Molodtsov. The last time he saw the investigator was after it became known that Dmitry had left the unit.

“I got the impression that the investigation does not yet know how to react to Dmitry’s escape,” Oleg complains.

Leaky border

Last year, Igor accidentally came across Molodtsov in the park. Once again I asked when he would return the money.

“He told me he had joined the army. Like, he’s in the trenches, but I’m not. That he risks his life, but I don’t. And that war is not the time to talk about some kind of money,” says Igor.

Military unit No. 3073 refused to tell hromadske whether Dmitry Molodtsov participated in hostilities during his service. We were interested in this question because the victims saw the serviceman in pawn shops and near slot machines at a time when he should have been “in the trenches.”

But the military unit informed us that “junior sergeant D.V. Molodtsov is considered to have left the military unit without permission on June 11, 2024.”

And then the story went beyond the state border. Ukrainian Andrei, who had previously illegally crossed the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, ended up in a Belarusian temporary detention center on June 13. In the cell he met Molodtsov - in military uniform.

“Dmitry said that on June 11 he left the location of his unit near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and decided to cross the border spontaneously. I believed in spontaneity, because Dmitry didn’t even have a foreign passport with him, and only 200 UAH of money,” says Andrey.

According to him, Dmitry explained that he has a foreign passport from Dii and that one can enter the EU using an electronic document. He was glad that he managed to pass through the minefields on the border without a map. He explained that he intended to reach the European Union through the Belarusian-Lithuanian border.

Andrey stayed with Dmitry for 6 days. During this time, Molodtsov was summoned for questioning by Belarusian KGB officers 5 times. The fugitive military man said that he was once interrogated by a Russian in a balaclava: he asked provocative questions about Bandera and the “special military operation.” And after the interrogation, the man was worried that he would not be sent to Russia.

“We were two Ukrainians in a foreign country. I thought that Dmitry ran away because of a conflict with the commander, I felt sorry for him,” says Andrey. From his own money, he paid a fine for Dmitry to Belarusians for illegally crossing the border, and also gave 2,500 hryvnia and 100 euros “to live on.” He even paid “for gasoline” when Belarusian border guards were transporting fugitives to the Lithuanian border.

The border guards asked that we not tell the Lithuanians that we had illegally crossed into Belarus from Ukraine. They even found civilian clothes and shoes for Dmitry so that he would not travel in his uniform. Andrey was with Dmitry Molodtsov in the Belarusian detention center

The Lithuanians let Andrei through, but Dmitry was detained. It was June 19th.

The next time the fugitives saw each other was in Poland. Andrey wanted to return the money spent on Dmitry - and wrote to him. On June 24 and 25 they communicated for the last time. Dmitry never explained how he managed to leave for the EU. I didn't give any money. On June 25, from Oleg’s messages on the Internet, Andrei already knew that Dmitry was a fraudster. And he contacted Oleg to inform him: a swindler in Poland.

Too many “ifs”

Pavel, a lawyer himself, is both the injured party and Igor’s lawyer in his civil lawsuit against Molodtsov. The lawyer explains that even when Dmitry was in Ukraine, it was very difficult to get him to return the funds. After all, the fact of fraud, that is, “malicious intent” on the part of Molodtsov, is not easy to prove.

“I gave Dmitry money, and he gave me receipts in which he promised to return the funds by such and such a date. These are legal relations that are regulated not by the Criminal Code, but by the Civil Code. How can I prove that he didn’t plan to give me the money, that it was a criminal scheme?” – Pavel notes.

Based on my claim, the court decided to collect money owed to me from Molodtsov. However, at this moment Dmitry did not work anywhere and did not have his own property. Why was the debt collected? When he mobilized and had a salary, I began to receive pitiful money to pay off the debt - from 2 to 6 thousand UAH per month. It took half a century for him to finally settle accounts with me. Pavel, deceived by Dmitry Molodtsov

According to the lawyer, Dmitry is now virtually inaccessible to Ukrainian justice. He fled and then stopped receiving wages - therefore, neither Pavel nor other victims who won civil cases against Molodtsov will be able to receive deductions from his income.

What remains? Pavel notes: “If the victims who were deceived by Dmitry write statements to the State Bureau of Investigation, on their basis Molodtsov will be put on the international wanted list. If we manage to achieve his return to Ukraine and if he has property and income here, then there will be hope of getting money from him.”

However, the lawyer himself is not sure of anything - too many “ifs” must work for the successful completion of the case.