If previously scammers disguised themselves as bank employees and called pensioners for the purpose of remote confirmation and withdrawal of money from bank cards, under the guise of “security purposes,” recently cybercriminals have become more inventive.
Taking advantage of the fact that the poor in Ukraine were actually paid assistance from UN funds, the attackers decided to use this sensitive topic to gain access to the cards of trusting people, mostly pensioners.
According to the National Police, fraudsters have become more active in messengers, in particular Viber, mass-distributing false information about international charitable assistance to the population of Ukraine.
According to the National Police, messages come both in regular SMS and in the Viber messenger, and very often pensioners become victims of scammers.
So, in the capital's police, just yesterday, two victims, who live in the Pechersk district of Kyiv, contacted law enforcement officers with statements about the theft of all money from card accounts for a total amount of about 60 thousand hryvnias.
In both cases, they received a message on the Viber messenger about the opportunity to apply for “financial assistance from the UN” in the amount of UAH 6,600. To do this, they had to follow the link in the message and accept a call from an “employee of Oschadbank” allegedly authorized to make payments.
After receiving a call in which a “bank employee” asked to provide personal bank card details and CVV code, as well as to follow voice prompts, both victims had all the money withdrawn from their cards in the classic manner – approximately 60 thousand hryvnias. The police launched an investigation under Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – “Fraud committed with the use of electronic and computer technology, committed in wartime conditions”.
If a fraudulent call center is exposed, the perpetrators face up to 8 years in prison.
