Ukrainian children who live through the war face various challenges every day. Their school years are spent in the shadow of sirens, evacuations, loss of homes, parents and friends. For many families, going to school is a test of endurance: will it be possible to find money for notebooks, a briefcase, and warm clothes? In these realities, any state or humanitarian initiative aimed at supporting first-graders is perceived as saving. However, alongside those who try to help, there are also those who shamelessly use children’s vulnerability as an excuse for their own enrichment.
How fraudsters used the program
A new fraudulent scheme is spreading in social networks, which is disguised as the state program “Student’s Package”. Criminals, under the guise of good intentions, send parents a message about the alleged start of payments to schoolchildren and demand to provide personal bank details. The situation is so serious that the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine has already officially appealed to the citizens with a warning: no such program has started yet.
Ministry of Social Policy confirmedthat the “Student Package” initiative is in the final testing phase. These are technical settings that should ensure stable operation of the system and secure access to the service. The department assures: the launch will take place in time, so that all families who need help before the beginning of the school year will be able to use it.
At the same time, officials urge parents not to trust any messages from unverified sources and not to follow suspicious links. Everyone who registered their child for the first grade in a Ukrainian school and uses the Diya application will receive an official notification through it after the program is launched. At the same time, the full instructions for receiving assistance will be published. Until now, no person or entity has the right to ask for personal or bank details, promising payments or packages for schoolchildren.
How the scam works
The essence of the scheme is to use fear, trust and information vacuum. Parents with children who are going to school for the first time receive messages that resemble official messages from government agencies. They indicate that the program is already active, and to receive help, you need to go to the link, fill out a questionnaire or provide bank card details.
Such messages are often accompanied by imitations of the logos of “Diya” or the Ministry of Social Policy. Some of them lead to phishing sites that copy the appearance of government services. After entering the data, criminals gain access to the accounts of citizens — and in the best case simply steal funds. At worst, they take out loans, steal personal information, which is later used in even more large-scale frauds.
At a time when society relies on compassion, helping each other and trusting public services, fraudsters drive a wedge of mistrust. Their actions are not only a criminal offense, but also a moral decline. They prey on the hope that there is still support in the country, and use every gap when there is silence between the official announcement and the implementation of the program.
What parents can do and what the state should do
The Ministry of Social Policy has already warned: do not transfer personal data to third parties, do not follow dubious links, trust only official messages in the “Diya” application and on government websites. These are obvious tips, but in a situation of information hunger and uncertainty, they should be repeated every day.
At the same time, the state should not only warn about fraud, but also more actively inform about the progress of preparation of such programs. At a time when every hryvnia is on the account, and thousands of families do not know whether they will be able to send their child to school, any delay or silence causes panic, which is later intercepted by fraudsters.
Perhaps that is why it would be worthwhile to publish in advance a clear schedule of the implementation of the program, to explain its mechanism, conditions of participation, terms. Where there is clear communication, it is much more difficult for fraudsters to operate.
