This year, law enforcement officers recorded a record number of criminal proceedings related to fraud. The other day, another similar “scheme” was exposed by the cyber police. An advertisement with the offer to receive payments from “Polish partners” of Ukraine began to be distributed in the Telegram messenger.
A new fraudulent scheme
Criminals offered users to allegedly receive 12,000 hryvnias on a Ukrainian bank card. To do this, it was necessary to go to a link to a site where users had to enter bank card data. In fact, such sites are phishing platforms aimed at stealing personal and bank data in order to further steal funds.
In order not to become victims of fraudsters, the cyber police advise: before submitting your data to receive any payments, check that the information comes from official sources and is posted on the official resources of the organizations on whose behalf assistance is promised. After all, thanks to digitalization, some payments can actually be made online. Because of this, fraudsters often create sites that visually resemble the platforms of government bodies or international organizations.
If you don’t want to get caught by fraudsters, don’t give your personal data to third parties. In particular, you should not enter in various questionnaires and on suspicious sites:
- the login and password you use to use Internet banking;
- CVV/CVC-code (three-digit number on the back of the bank card);
- pin codes from bank cards;
- codes and one-time passwords sent to your phone from the bank and mobile operators.
The number of fraud cases is increasing
According to calculations by analysts of the Opendatabot platform, more than 24,000 criminal proceedings under Article 190 “Fraud” were opened in Ukraine only during the first three months of 2024. This is 20% more than in the first quarter of 2023 and is an absolute record.
“Only 3,400 or 14% of all registered cases at the beginning of 2024 reached the court. More than 2,000 more proceedings were closed,” Opendatabot experts note
