ZHAR.INFO journalist Olha Zahoruyko received an email mimicking an official notification from the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, the journalist reported to Alyona Bereza, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Khmelnytskyi oblast.
The letter included an attachment and claimed that a documentary audit of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs was ongoing; it asked for constituent, financial, and tax documents. The email was signed by the “inspection department specialist” Ruslana Zakharivna Ulytska.
The email listed the papers that the recepient needed to submit to the ESB:
- constituent documents,
- financial reports,
- tax declarations.
The letter also suggested opening the attachment that supposedly contained a digital reply form.
The Cherkasy-based news website 18000 received an email impersonating the Economic Security Bureau (ESB) earlier on 11 March. The letter asked for the media outlet’s constituent documents, charter, tax returns, and financial reports for the past three years. The Economic Security Bureau later reported they had not sent any letters to that effect.