In January 2025, Russian-language Telegram channels reported that in Transcarpathia, a mobilized local resident robbed the office of the head of the territorial acquisition center (TCC). We have verified the accuracy of this information.
News of the incident began spreading on Telegram on January 14. According to viral publications, “the man was picked up on the street, brought to the TCC, where he broke the door lock and entered the military commissar’s office, where he stole money and escaped through the window.” It was reported that, according to the victim, the stolen €27,000 was collected for the purchase of drones for the army. This information appeared in many large Telegram channels, such as “KB"(248,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Evil proof"(237,000), Colonelcassad (231,000), "Uncle Slava"(196,000), "Reviewer"(190,000), "Belarusian security officer", (160,000), "Voblya • news" (146,000), "First People's | News"(102,000).
Many Russian-speaking bloggers accompanied their publications with a screenshot post from Telegram channel People's Deputy of Ukraine Olga Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk, which she posted on January 14 at 13:51 Moscow time.
The message quickly spread across social networks, but soon the Transcarpathian Regional TCC denied Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk’s statements. “The information about the alleged detention of a repeat offender who escaped and stole €27,000 is fake. Such a case was not recorded in any of the TCCs of the Transcarpathian region,” it says in a post on the department’s verified Facebook page.
Representative of the National Police of the Transcarpathian region Anna Dan also commented to the press refuted information about the incident, emphasizing that the police had not received any complaints regarding this incident and that the “Interception” plan had not been introduced in the region. After official denials appeared, Vasilevskaya-Smaglyuk deleted her post, but its screenshots continued to be circulated by pro-Russian Telegram channels.
Fact checkers of the Vox Ukraine project installed, that the original source of the fake was the publication of TikTok user @bob.ganga1, who posted a video with the news on January 12 (as Verified found out, at 20:44 Moscow time). However, later this post was also deleted, the account itself is currently unavailable.
To illustrate the news in the video, a stock photograph was used, which was repeatedly used to illustrate news about burglaries - for example, in Armenia in 2019, in Ukraine in 2017 and in Kazakhstan in 2021.
Thus, the information about the theft of 27 thousand euros from the office of the head of the TsK in Transcarpathia is a fake created by an anonymous TikTok user. This message is not confirmed by any authoritative source, and regional authorities deny its authenticity.
Cover photo: GroZa news
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