UKRAINIAN MAN ARRESTED ON ELDERLY SCAM
CUMBERLAND COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Sheriff Casey Cox
PRESS RELEASE
July 17, 2025
Crossville, TN – On June 18, 2025 Investigators with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office along with Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Cyber Crimes Division were alerted to a possible elderly victim that was being scammed and possibly about to lose a large sum of money.
Investigators made contact with the victim who lived in the Midway community and discovered the victim was being coerced over the phone by a scammer claiming to be with the Federal Trade Commission, claiming the victim owed $50,000 dollars for violations that had been attached to the victim’s Social Security number. The victim was told if they didn’t pay the fine of this violation that their Social Security Number would be suspended.
The victim was told if they tried to contact anyone about this violation they would be in violation of the Privacy Protocol Act of 1974. This is a common tactic scammers use on victims to keep them from alerting banks or Law Enforcement of their schemes.
The victim did withdraw $50,000 from their financial institution and was told that a driver for the Federal Trade Commission would be picking up the money to pay for this fine.
Investigators made contact with the victim and were able to take over communication with the scammer. Investigators began “scamming the scammer” and were able to set up a controlled sting operation to pick off the courier this criminal organization was using to pick up this large amount of money. The transaction was set and the courier arrived and picked up a decoy package that investigators made to facilitate this transaction.
Investigators initiated a take down and arrested 25 year old Volodymyr Katauev from the Ukraine. Digital evidence was seized from this courier and has been sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for processing. United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has since placed a hold on Volodymyr Katauev who is still in custody on a $400,000 bond.
Lt. Gary Howard
Public Information Officer
