The Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine announced the launch of a bot in Telegram called StopShadowBot, which allows you to report a seller’s violations when selling imported gadgets.
The Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine announced the launch of a bot in Telegram called StopShadowBot, which allows you to report a seller’s violations when selling imported gadgets.
You can send a photo, description of the violation, and location of the point of sale to StopShadowBot for «rapid response,» the message say.
«After receiving relevant information, the Bureau’s specialists will be able to quickly analyze it and take measures to establish facts of tax evasion or gray import of gadgets», the BEB explained.
At the start of the dialogue, the bot offers to choose one of three options: gas stations (the option is under development), electrical engineering, and contacts. If you choose the second option, StopShadowBot will offer to report the following violations:
In 2023, Ukrainian social media users reported that home appliance stores began adding «free» e-books to customers’ receipts. This additional service allowed them to reduce the amount of VAT.
«Previously, electronic services, for example, were added to the cost of goods in the check. However, this continued until the beginning of 2023, when such a privilege ceased to exist», said Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Finance Committee.
In September 2025, Hetmantsev said that he would propose to the State Tax Service of Ukraine to conduct test purchases of iPhone 17 by the end of September or in October in well-known store chains.
Last fall, the CEO of the COMFY electronics store chain, Ihor Khyzhnyak, published a post on Facebook in which he said that he was able to purchase an iPhone 16 in Ukraine before the start of official sales. According to him, «not a single penny» was paid to the state budget for these gadgets.
Later, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, said that as part of the fight against the shadow electronics market, 170 actual inspections of stores that sold Apple products were currently being conducted. Among them were Yabko, Yabluka, and Techno Yizhak.
Yabko reported that after inspections, they reported on the proper payment of taxes — 257 million UAH for the last 9 months. The company assures that all its imports are carried out legally, with payment of the full tax burden. Some of the equipment is purchased from Ukrainian suppliers, the rest is imported directly, with customs clearance and documentation in accordance with the law.
