The fraud story to be discussed below is rather banal: another victim was "conned" with the promise to buy and deliver a car to Ukraine from the USA. The key figure in this fraud is Odesa resident Volodymyr Filippov, although he denies being the scheme’s organizer. However, we will not believe this assertion, and here’s why.
So, here’s the story. Citizen Viktoriya K. decided to purchase a car from the USA. What it ended up with can be read at this link. In essence, it boils down to the fact that she contacted PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh," with which she signed a relevant contract stipulating that the company would purchase a car at a US auction and deliver it to Ukraine. Then began the story of the payment for services. There were several payments, and in total, Viktoriya spent $15,000 but never saw the car. According to Mr. Filipov, she transferred the money to the account of the company’s manager, Maksym, who is now dismissed. Maksym claims he resigned himself because he was "collecting TRC," but it is not essential here, although that is also questionable. Regarding the money Viktoriya transferred to Maxim’s account, the company has got nothing to do with it, and Viktoriya, if she wants her car, has to pay for everything again.
Ms. Viktoriya also claims that Volodymyr Filippov left PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh" with debts and now works under the "Iron Motors" label in Moldova.
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Filippov’s position, as mentioned above, is: "I did not sign anything with you, and I have not been living in Ukraine for several years." Despite these statements of Filippov, we are dealing with classic fraud. Firstly, the contract with Viktoriya K. and PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh" exists and is signed by Filippov himself.
However, when signing the agreement, the client - and she is not the only one who fell into Volodymyr Filipov’s trap (more on that later) - should have been alerted that the funds under the contract are transferred not to the account of PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh," but to the account of its director, Volodymyr Filippov. Although she was not alerted, it’s hard to blame a person without legal knowledge - she signed documents at an officially registered company, and Volodymyr Filippov truly is its director and owner.
Thus, Filippov’s claim that "he didn’t sign anything" is a lie. As is the claim that he didn’t receive any money. Here is a photo of one of the receipts; there were several:
So Mr. Filippov is clearly lying. Currently, that’s nearly all of this story - the affected client has turned to the court demanding to recover from Volodymyr Filippov the money swindled from her, the story awaits continuation.
But the fact that Volodymyr Filippov is a fraudster and the scheme that caught Viktoriya isn’t an exception is evidenced by court registry checks. At least three more people have filed similar claims against Volodymyr Filippov and PP "Pivdennyi Shlyakh." The "Opendatabot" registry presents an even greater number of court cases - 34, which also reports that four enforcement proceedings have been registered against PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh" for debt collection due to obtaining money through the same scheme.
Thus, favorable decisions for the victims already exist. Truthfully, it is unlikely to recover funds from PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh" - they went not to its account, but to Filippov’s personal account. Besides, PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh" has no assets, no funds - its authorized capital is one thousand hryvnias, and it did not show any profits. Therefore, the victims have only moral satisfaction.
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Whether something can be recovered from Filippov himself is also a question. Judging by the open data, he’s clearly not a simple person. Here’s what the registries tell us about him. Volodymyr Serhiyovych Filipov is the founder and owner of the aforementioned PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh" and LLC "Iron Motors," which intercepted the fraudulent scheme of swindling money from people wanting to buy cars from the USA. However, two other organizations in this list seem even more interesting: Association "Center" and its regional branch "Center-Odesa," owned by Filippov.
Because this Association "Center" is nothing more than an international association of special forces officers for fighting organized crime "Center." And "Center-Odesa" is its branch.
The Association "Center" is not merely a regular "GO" (civil organization), where former retirees have tea or vodka and reminisce about battles they fought together. The Association "Center" is a powerful business structure acting as the founder of 14 other organizations, some of which are fully commercial.
What is interesting in this connection is that most of them are located in temporarily occupied territories. This can either indicate that Mr. Filippov and his colleagues in the struggle are either victims of the occupiers, who took over their business, or they cooperate with them. There’s no data on this, so the question remains open. But this also shows that, firstly, Volodymyr Filippov is a former special forces officer to combat organized crime. And secondly - he has strong connections in the environment of those who fought against and led this crime. Moreover, in the East, where this crime has become so intertwined with the government, its fighters, and Russian special services that it is practically impossible to distinguish them.
That’s all so far about the owner of PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh," Volodymyr Filippov, who engages in banal fraud, extorting money from those willing to purchase a car in the States. It seems that PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh" is already a worked-out structure, it will hang with debts, and it will be liquidated. Currently, all schemes have migrated to LLC "Iron Motors," which is registered at the same address as PE "Pivdennyi Shlyakh" - 65088, Ukraine, Odesa region, city of Odesa, Liustdorfska Street, house 90g, office 239, although it advertises itself as a company from Moldova. Reportedly, Volodymyr Filippov is also there. By the way, on the Iron Motors website, you cannot find any registration data. But who was interested in this when there is an opportunity for a "freebie"? People get interested later, when the money is hopelessly lost.
It seems Filippov decided to wait out a bit in a neighboring country until things settle down at home. The scheme by which Volodymyr Filipov operates at Iron Motors in Moldova is the same as before - why reinvent the wheel? And as criminal practice suggests, with which Mr. Filippov is well acquainted, a criminal rarely changes a successful scheme.
Whether Volodymyr Filippov’s colleagues in the association of former organized crime combating officers are aware of what he’s doing is another open question. However, judging by the fact that Volodymyr Filippov has been in this fraudulent business for a long time and no criminal cases have been initiated against him - it’s clearly not former law enforcers covering him, but active ones. Let’s see what happens in Moldova.
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