Kharkiv-based electronics retail chain Sota Store is urgently scrubbing information from its website that could indicate the use of illegal financial schemes and tax evasion. Specifically, mentions of transactions through a network of frontman individual entrepreneurs (known as FOPs) and certain installment payment services have vanished from the platform. Investigators and digital watchdogs have already called on the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) and the Cyberpolice to investigate the retailer’s activities, noting that all original website data has been preserved via digital screenshots.
Analysts discovered that Sota Store management began clearing website pages that exposed so-called «business fragmentation» (FOP splitting). This method is frequently utilized by retail networks to artificially lower revenues by registering dozens of parallel, low-tax FOP accounts.
Furthermore, the «Installment Plan» option from PrivatBank was swiftly removed from the list of available services. However, alternative and potentially risky financial tools remain on the site. For orders under 10,000 UAH, clients are still prompted to transfer funds directly to bank cards (often belonging to money mules or frontmen), with payment instructions sent via SMS or private message after order confirmation.
«We hold the original screenshots of the website, and it is well within the capabilities of Cyberpolice and BEB specialists to recover what you have tried to hide,» warned the investigators who uncovered the alleged violations.
A key focus of the exposure is the website’s integration of virtual asset payments through the Whitepay system. The store accepts popular tokens and coins for retail purchases, including USDT, BTC, ETH, and ATA.
Experts suggest the company quickly address this issue, as using cryptocurrency for retail transactions in Ukraine without proper tax accounting currently sits in a «gray zone» and triggers high-priority alerts for financial monitoring authorities.
Sota Store operates brick-and-mortar locations across Ukraine’s major cities. According to publicly available data, the brand’s shops are currently located at:
Kharkiv: 1 Rymarska St. and 9 Universytetska St.;
Kyiv: 21a Baseina St.;
Odesa: 14 Teatralnyi Ln.
At the time of publication, representatives of the Bureau of Economic Security have not officially commented on the situation surrounding the Kharkiv retailer.