Company potentially scamming Ukrainian troops by selling Chinese jammers as Ukrainian made

[violet sapphire]

I am not yet 100% sure of the ID (mainly because there's a lot of identical looking products, that different only slightly from one another, on Chinese e-commerce sites). But here's an example of what I mean https://m.made-in-china.com/amp/product/Drone-Jammer-Device-and-Drone-Detector-Device-Anti-Drone-10km-Uav-System-Detector-2089885095.html

Or this one where they post something they claim is made in Ukraine, and then post a datasheet with text in Mandarin

[violet sapphire]

https://m.made-in-china.com/amp/product/Manpack-1-5km-High-Gain-Antenna-Drone-Blocker-Five-Band-433MHz-900MHz-1-5g-2-4G-5-8g-Drone-Jammer-2022993795.html I think I may have another one

Some of these systems cost tens of thousands of dollars so this isn't some small time grift

[violet sapphire]

https://www.facebook.com/antidrone.cc/posts/pfbid034CaP3HDjysQgp7VxpyYYeg5kjjEYL6udVNN79VLhTZqL2VS6UzmKdwhCH64JsSULl
https://ckjjammer.en.made-in-china.com/product/WfBUSbZoZJka/China-Handheld-Anti-Drone-Module-Device-900-MHz-40W-for-Fpv-Defense.html

I doubt Ukrainian troops would be very happy if they found out their domestically produced jammers are just ones from alibaba and made-in-china, just marked up and with a new sticker

https://www.facebook.com/antidrone.cc/posts/pfbid0yvLqPqcBELYZqMHLSJWXfwr9ZcphyJ6MrC84ePqSxSoUSoWLD44zqnkwaLQ61x17l
https://boxin-olt.en.made-in-china.com/product/CETYjeSrOfUR/China-Portable-Uav-Shield-Equipment-Drone-Interference-Gun-for-Signal-Shield-Electromagnetic-Wave.html

[outer flicker]

the telegram is all in Ukranian so that might be another vector to explore

[violet sapphire]

listing removed from Alibaba, but they even reused the case

[violet sapphire]

Yeah, I didn't even get to the telegram yet, but I'm sure there's plenty of stuff there

I'm keeping an eye out for fundraisers so we can find out the price of one of these

I'll try to ID more of these tomorrow, do ping me if anyone finds some

[outer flicker]

If you do find it is a scam company etc. I'll pass the details onto a Ukrainian friend of mine who is a lawyer in the UK.

[violet sapphire]

I mean they are already lying about designing this themselves, and I assume a big reason why troops are buying this stuff is because they believe it's Ukrainian designed and made, if you check their facebook they have fake CAD models of the stuff they get from China claiming they designed it on their own

[fossil bobcat]

Anyone calling them out in the comments?

[violet sapphire]

Haven't seen anything yet, most people probably don't realize. This stuff appeared in the latest United 24 video and got shown off by a soldier

That's how I found out about it

[fossil bobcat]

There’s a comment under this post complaining about comments being deleted and stating that the anti-drone gun is Chinese.

[violet sapphire]

So they are deleting comments, classic

Yeah pretty clear they want to deceive soldiers at this point

[queen notch]

I shared this with a group that mass-reports scammers/violators

idk how "mass" but let's hope this gets looked at

[tepid flint]

@violet sapphire Have you looked into the companies behind it?

Would be happy to help on that end.

[violet sapphire]

No, I just started working on this, if you can find anything on that front I would appreciate the help

[violet sapphire]

https://pmg.ua/dosie/16244-gerasymyuk-sergiy-oleksandrovych I think this is the dude behind the anti drone company

[violet sapphire]

Most of the products I identified are being made by this company https://m.made-in-china.com/company-szautoe/info.html

[tepid flint]

how did you link this guy?

[tepid flint]

and which products are these guys producing?

[twilit pier]

Have you checked with any form of facial recognition?

If confirmed this would be a huge finding

[violet sapphire]

I'm not great with that tbh

[violet sapphire]

I'm not sure if they are the primary producers actually on second look, since two of the listings I posted above are identical to theirs, but list a different manufacturer

Like it's the exact same product and foto just different sellers I guess

[tepid flint]

Yeah, I've been running through those manufacturers for a hot minute. I have the records for one of the companies, but the other seems to be a bit of a pain.

[violet sapphire]

If you know how to do it, I would appreciate the help

Another photo from the rada website

[violet sapphire]

Yeah, seems they sell the same products, so idk if it's just one company operating under several names, or if they all buy from some OEM

[tepid flint]

So, I've got records for two of the companies now.

[violet sapphire]

Did you check the addresses?

[tepid flint]

The next move is probably trying to get proof of them exporting goods to Ukraine, which we can then use to get whoever is actually in Ukraine distributing it.

[tepid flint]

Not yet, no.

I assume its going to be some big ol factories. These guys are sketchy in that they mass produce drone jamming equipment (which seems like a very specialised bit of kit to mass produce), but the interesting bit is their relationship with the dudes in Ukraine.

[violet sapphire]

Just wondering if it's one of those virtual office things (not sure if that's the right terminology) or an actual location

Like I ran across those fake office things where you have like 50 companies registered, in the past when looking into shit going to Ukraine

[tepid flint]

Its entirely possible

most of what I work on is espionage stuff, so ig I take for granted that things with me are usually offices for hire.

its not that big a deal in terms of the story

[violet sapphire]

Like if you look at the records, it only says they are E-Businesses

Or am I misreading that

[tepid flint]

where?

I can't see a bit that says e-business but I could also be blind

[violet sapphire]

Second row from bottom

[tepid flint]

I think those are blank tick boxes

I don't have any other references to prove that though

[violet sapphire]

Ah, ok

[tepid flint]

@violet sapphire any idea how we can get a list of exports from china to Ukraine?

or even better, specific ports

[violet sapphire]

I'll ask someone people who might know, but way outside my area of expertise sadly

[tepid flint]

ah ok

[violet sapphire]

I'm 99% sure it's the same person, because there's very little chance there's two businessmen, with the same name, who are both public servants in the same place

[tepid flint]

That's fair. What did the facebook page say about his role?

[violet sapphire]

He seems to be the owner of the company, his name is in the profile name

There's a couple articles in Ukrainian if you search his name together with the company name

[tepid flint]

whats the company name? antidrones cc?

[twilit pier]

I'm looking around with some free tools and they provide very high accuracies (I honestly don't know how good they are tbh, I don't do this often either)

[tepid flint]

This article seems to suggest its a guy called "Serhiy Sokalchuk" - but theres not much else about him anywhere. https://censor.net/en/news/3409622/military_has_developed_antidrone_gun_to_work_at_short_distances_photos

[twilit pier]

So besides an analysis by someone who knows better, I think it's fair to say it's the same person

[tepid flint]

same dude?

[violet sapphire]

Photo from the Instagram, seems it's the same person

[twilit pier]

Tool says it's a match

[tepid flint]

gotcha

@violet sapphire what was the name of the ukrainian company?

[violet sapphire]

Antidrone Ukraine

There's a Facebook link in the forum post

[violet sapphire]

https://www.facebook.com/share/E5GjnGLDQFkv7PPE/?mibextid=qi2Omg

[tepid flint]

ah, I thought you might have found company records

all good, no worries

[violet sapphire]

Most of the UA sites are down because of the war

So not easy to search for it exactly

[tepid flint]

fair

[violet sapphire]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CwrG37wI87-/

antidrone.cc

Drone detection and countermeasures project #antidronecc #антидрон #окопнийреб #антидронукраїна

Instagram

Software in Mandarin, and he also show the location of where they operate from

[tepid flint]

smh opsec.

[violet sapphire]

I think he's filming from here 48.42925264850419, 22.707165130653785, the software says the drone is 179m away, which would match perfectly

Yeah, with a facility of this size they are really putting in zero effort to hide that they don't actually produce anything

[violet sapphire]

this whole thing turned into a bigger story than I expected

https://m.made-in-china.com/product/2024-700-MHz-900MHz-2-4G-30W-50W-100W-1-Bands-Aluminum-Enclosures-C-Vog-Fpv-Killer-System-to-Fpv-Anti-Drones-Aj001-2115775755.html
https://www.instagram.com/p/C0UKrzQIc9L/

antidrone.cc

Купольний захист на транспорт

• 900 (850-950мгц) діапазон.
• Потужність 50вт
• Живлення будь яке бортове (9-35в, легкові авто, бронетехніка, партнерська ітд)
• Споживання 4-10А
• Магнітна платформа для антени з кабелем 2м
• Безшумна робота

Контакт для звʼязку, питань, замовлень: http://t.me/herasymyuk

Instagram

Another one from their instagram if there was any doubt left that they are just scamming troops

[tepid flint]

yep

I think the two best bets then are finding the Ukrainian company records for them, and the export/import records from China.

[dense salmon]

can he call it made in ukraine by simply changing one detail or putting it together or something? or by design with the mother company. i came over such frauds that were on the legal side.

[violet sapphire]

Idk, I haven't seen the internals, but they didn't even bother translating the software into Ukrainian

But many of these have zero visual difference on the outside, so I doubt they put in any effort into this

I also think these products come from at least a couple different companies

And idk what's the likelihood of them working with multiple companies to design something, vs just ordering this stuff from Alibaba

[hollow oasis]

hey interesting thread, if y'all need any help with translations or anything ping me here, I'm fluent in Mandarin Chinese

The facial recognition bot I use contains older scraped images from VK. Here's some

Not sure if I am allowed to share these here, mods please delete if not allowrd

Also considering that one of the photos is taken of him with the Narodniyy front background

@twilit pier

This also confirms his identity. Same name and city

[violet sapphire]

Can you compare this one with one of those, #1240733187190292490 message

[hollow oasis]

What images?

[violet sapphire]

The one I linked, and either of the two you already used is fine

Thank you

That basically confirms it's the same person

[hollow oasis]

Kind of. But I'd take these online comparisons not the most seriously

Because they're not the most consistent

What other info do you have? Social media pages, etc?

[violet sapphire]

I meant with all the other stuff, same name, both businessmen, both public officials in the same place

There's basically zero chance it's a different person

[hollow oasis]

Basically yes. What other PII do you have?

By any chance, you have any media showing license plates?

[violet sapphire]

https://pmg.ua/dosie/16244-gerasymyuk-sergiy-oleksandrovych his biography
There's a telegram @herasymyuk

[violet sapphire]

Didn't look for it but the Instagram or Facebook accounts could have some

I'll check a bit later once I'm back on my PC

[hollow oasis]

It's fine, I see them on his telegram

Telegram also has same picture as VK

In data leaks, he has the same car registered to him.

It seems like the traffic police database has some issues. They say it's a blue BMW 320 from 1993, but it seems like it's not that early

Basically though, we got the guy. There's no doubt who he is

Considering he owns quite expensive cars, this is worth looking into

We can see if he acquires further luxury items

[twilit pier]

Yep, just for clarification those are the same tools I was using for comparing faces, so someone else doing it as well independently makes it as strong evidence as those tools can provide

[hollow oasis]

Yep, and even so, the data leaks connect regardless

[tepid flint]

https://opendatabot.ua/c/45320733

at last, as if by magic. LLC "ANTIDRON UKRAINE"

[twilit pier]

Company established just 3 months ago

[dense salmon]

He is also @artmotorsworks

[violet sapphire]

Oh this is great

so 4 companies under his name

https://archive.ph/YMpA6 ART MOTORS
https://archive.ph/FeNZb ANTIDRONE UKRAINE
https://archive.ph/YrU3E KARPAT-RENT
https://archive.ph/5S1V8 OKUN

Went through the trouble of archiving all 4 since it blocks you after using it for a while

3 phone numbers

48.42875469950926, 22.706710364294057 ART MOTORS and ANTIDRONE UKRAINE are both registered to this adress

The KARPAT RENT one is a bit more tricky, since none of the houses have the number on them

https://clarity-project.info/edr/37493810 got another company under this number [phone]

[tepid flint]

Still none appearing in import records

[violet sapphire]

probably importing it under his own name, since it's basically all from Alibaba

Should show up otherwise

[tepid flint]

yeah

[charred agate]

@hollow oasis @violet sapphire Please see #rules #6 and do not rely on "mods delete if not allowed". This is a huge server and we don't read every post. I will be deleting all rule violating content

[tepid flint]

Is it worth us making a gc for this?

[violet sapphire]

The phone numbers and accounts were all associated with a company, and the person was a public servant so I thought it was fine, apologies

I'll close the post and try to find someplace else to do this. Quite difficult to research a company of I can't even share a company phone number or discuss who the owner is.

[charred agate]

The ones I deleted were preceded by messages that said things like, "this is his personal Instagram" etc, which is forbidden in the rules. Indeed, we can't do all of our research in a public discord server due to Discord 's own terms of service.
Good luck! A lot of good research has taken place in a DM group.

[hollow oasis]

Sorry about that. Is the line drawn where it's stuff like personal accounts instead of something such as a phone number on a company registration?

[charred agate]

Yes. Don't share anything pulled from a personal account or the link to the account itself; to keep this community in compliance with Discord you'll have to do that elsewhere. We believe business information is okay.

[vivid canopy]

tell me more... Miss Linda?

[hallow solstice]

I love how it says "Application: School" ...

Besides the 'made in Ukraine' sticker is there any other indication that this is a scam? I don't have personal experience with jammers, but from what I've read, if you order them from China, you get a mixed bad, you might have change a few things, or dial in the frequency, at least you need to know exactly what you're buying in order for it to work. So it's conveivable that there is just a young entrepreneurial spirit who's learned a bit about jamming and what type of equipment is required and where to get it, buy a bunch with their own money, make sure they work, and resell them.
I'm not sure how much they changed or if they did anything at all, if they bought components (like a power supply, jammers, cases) and assembled them into a tested product, I don't think scamming would be the right word. I can't find information on the price differences, that might be a factor... if they sell a 500$ product for 25k, it's more than dubious.

IDK looking at their Telegram channel it really seems like they put some work into the setups they sell. You can clearly see in the pictures of the sets that they sell complete sets and they seem to make sure that everything is tested, and holds up to the conditions is the field (at least as far as chinesium will take you).
It definitely takes some research to find reliable suppliers, to select the correct components and to put them together in a way that makes sense.
It's very likely a normal occurrence in Ukraine right now and very similar to the way the military acquires other "dual use" products, like drones. You have individuals who have the knowledge, put in the work, establish companies, build inventory and the military probably buys as much as they can. I'm pretty sure that at this point, Ukrainians are experienced in sourcing parts from China and putting them together in a way that allows non-technical operators to use them effectively.

On the Telegram channel you can even see him recommending parts that fit the setup as an optional add on directly on aliexpress.

Which makes sense if he's not a scammer but just a guy trying to use his knowledge to help and make a living. I did something similar a while ago where I bought a few things in China, assembled them, and resold them to enthusiasts in Europe (let's say electronic learning kits...) - I'll just say it's a lot of work in a small quantity like that and it's hard to make a profit this way because it's many hours of research, buying, soldering, testing... then you definitely end up with a box of stuff you either bought the wrong type, you made a mistake and let the magic smoke escape... that all has to be factored in.

[violet sapphire]

Yeah, we found one item being sold at about 3 times the price completely unmodified.

They are breaking Ukrainian law at the very least

[hallow solstice]

OK I mean generally, selling an item at 100-150% markup is to be expected, so three times the price of the components is not necessarily indicative of a scam IF something has been done to the components and especially if other components are added, like plugs, wire harnesses etc, building that stuff takes a lot of time. Technically, if you're buying components from China, but the last step of assembly is in Ukraine, I think he can technically say that the item was made in Ukraine.
However if it is how you say and he just buys things in China and resells them at three times the price plus the sticker fraud, completely unmodified, then yeah, that's bad.
Generally, looking at the items, if he buys them at 500 and sells them for 1500 he makes a 1000 profit per unit, which, if you only sell a few bespoke items, it's a good profit margin, but it's not completely uncommon either, IF there is some work being done to the items. If not then, yeah....

That being said, I'm pretty sure if you talk to the company in China, and send them specifications for what you need, I guarantee that you find someone in Shenzen who will make exactly what you need and your job will only be quality control

[violet sapphire]

It's not being assembled in Ukraine, it's even in the same packaging as on Alibaba. And the company was only registered 3 months ago iirc, so a lot of these Alibaba postings predate the company. I'm sure some stuff is getting assembled in Ukraine, but the majority isn't

I've already looked into most of the things you mentioned, and yeah sure looks like they are just putting stickers on stuff and increasing the price

Even their UIs are in Chinese