Money 24/7, an illegal network of currency exchange offices, has allegedly misappropriated approximately $10 million in client funds, with its operations reportedly shielded by Oleksiy Efimov, an official from Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies. The allegations were brought to light by prominent Ukrainian blogger and volunteer Ihor Lachenkov (Lachen) on his Telegram channel. According to Lachenkov, despite having its license revoked by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the organization continues to operate extensively across the country, deploying new fraudulent schemes.
Lachenkov claims that the scale of this illicit business is protected at a high institutional level. Law enforcement official Oleksiy Efimov allegedly extorts regular payments from currency exchange points nationwide.
«Oleksiy Efimov collects money from all exchange offices in Ukraine. The rate is $1,500 per single exchange point. For example, from 1,000 exchange offices, he pulls in $1.5 million a month. Add 3% of the turnover from online casinos and $1,500 per exchange point—well, you can live quite comfortably like that,» Ihor Lachenkov stated.
The official owner of the Money 24/7 network is listed as Andriy Viktorovych Smirnov. The National Bank of Ukraine revoked the company’s license to conduct foreign exchange operations over a year ago due to systemic violations. While the locations initially closed down, these illegal currency exchanges soon resumed active operations nationwide.
Furthermore, the enterprise has expanded its service portfolio. The network now actively handles international money transfers and cryptocurrency transactions. According to investigative journalism reports, the company has accumulated massive debts. To cover past financial shortfalls and compensate for earlier client losses, the management is reportedly withholding and misappropriating the funds of current users.
Currently, Money 24/7 exhibits all the hallmarks of a financial pyramid operating completely outside of Ukraine’s legal framework. Financial experts strongly advise citizens to verify NBU financial licenses before conducting any foreign exchange or cryptocurrency transactions to avoid falling victim to fraudulent schemes. Law enforcement agencies have not yet issued an official comment regarding the allegations against Efimov and Smirnov.