The Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine and the National Police conducted searches in a network of second-hand stores and announced the discovery of a large-scale scheme of business fragmentation and tax evasion. According to data of law enforcement officers, the network in question is EconomClass.
The investigation established that more than 200 stores throughout Ukraine actually operated as a single company. At the same time, the sale of goods was carried out through individual entrepreneurs registered in different regions of the country.
According to data of the BEB, the scheme involved hundreds of individual entrepreneurs who received from 2 to 3 thousand hryvnias per month for providing documents for registration. Regional managers transferred cash from stores through illegal currency exchange points.
According to the investigation, a special role in the operation of the scheme was played by specially developed software. It allowed store employees to selectively fiscalize purchases depending on customer behavior, and the information was stored on foreign servers.
Law enforcement officials reported that during 2023–2025, 23 individual entrepreneurs were involved in the scheme, through which financial transactions worth over 231 million hryvnias were carried out. According to preliminary estimates, the state budget could have received over 38.6 million hryvnias in VAT.
BEB detectives conducted 23 searches in five regions of Ukraine. During the investigative actions, information carriers regarding the activities of over 530 individual entrepreneurs for 2024–2026 were seized. The investigation into the case is ongoing.
