Reports :

The victim met Teofila Koroliuk through online dating platforms, where she presented herself as a single woman from Donetsk looking for a serious relationship. After gaining trust, she started creating a sequence of obstacles that required urgent financial help. First, she claimed she needed 600 euros for a taxi to travel from Donetsk to Kyiv to take a bus. Soon after, she said that border guards of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic demanded proof of 1000 euros in cash in order to let her leave.
When the victim agreed to cover these expenses, the story escalated. She explained that at the border she was stopped again due to an "open tax debt" of 3100 euros. She sent fabricated documents to prove this claim. Once this was paid, she pretended to travel further but later reported being stopped in Kyiv, this time with another alleged debt of 9100 euros linked to property taxes. Again, she provided fake certificates showing identical handwriting and signatures, which raised suspicion.

To make the scheme more convincing, she introduced additional characters. A supposed lawyer named Volodymyr Maksym, reachable at +380977166034, confirmed the story about the taxes. A so-called friend, Olha Derkach (+380665129835), was also involved, while money was requested through PayPal to recipients Zror Yevhenii and Olha Derkach. The main contact number used by the scammer herself was +380957275041.

When the victim started questioning why the handwriting on both tax documents looked the same, the scammer quickly explained that it was normal in Ukraine because one authorized official could validate documents across different regions. This explanation later turned out to be part of the manipulation, as the "lawyer" giving this answer was also involved in the fraud.