With the outbreak of a full-scale war, the crime rate in Ukraine dropped rapidly, but the scammers not only quickly recovered and diversified their schemes and approaches. Their victims include both civilians and military
And if at first they mainly made money by taking an advance payment for the ammunition or cars needed by the military and disappearing, now they are also offering fake vacancies to those returning from the front, persuading them to pay for training or literature, without which employment is supposedly impossible
What schemes have become the most widespread, how the military and their families suffer from them, what you need to take into account to protect yourself from scammers who make money on fees for troops and victims of wars
FAKE CHARITERS AND EMPLOYERS
The fact that we were not ready for a full-scale war was immediately exploited by some criminals. Because they understood that war creates an atmosphere of stress, uncertainty and anxiety, in which people become more vulnerable to manipulation. Therefore, in the very first months of a full-scale offensive, a scheme related to evacuation of people who tried to leave the combat zone on their own or move to a safer place from the front-line regions. It boiled down to the fact that they promised to help people, took an advance payment, and then simply disappeared from communication
Another option was rental housing, designed for people who have animals. The advertisements, which were allegedly placed on the Internet by brokers, displayed photographs of private houses, the owners of which were ready to accept a family with pets. They also asked for an advance payment as a deposit. And when people came to the place, it turned out that in reality such a house from the photographs does not exist
Also, from the first days, scammers got involved in fundraising for the needs of the military. Either they collected funds themselves, or they saw what the military or volunteers were collecting, and went to their page to offer to buy something on “very favorable terms.”
Now, as the Main Investigation Department of the National Police told Censor.NET, one of the most common schemes is fake charitable organizations. Fraudsters even create websites for such organizations so that they look like real charitable foundations, or a page on social networks and ask for money for “help” for war victims People, wanting to help, often respond to such messages on the Internet without checking their authenticity
According to the deputy head of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, Evgeniy Kolesnik, recently law enforcement officers have been actively identifying and suppressing fake fundraisers that appear after massive rocket attacks. to provide assistance to children injured as a result of a missile attack on the Okhmatdyt hospital, clicked on a phishing email sent to him by a scammer link, after which I lost more than 12 thousand hryvnia from my bank account
And Zaporozhye investigators stopped the criminal activities of a local resident who, under the pretext of raising funds to help families who died as a result of a rocket attack on the city a year ago, took possession of citizens’ funds in the amount of 280 thousand hryvnia,” said Evgeniy Kolesnik
Another group, whose members decided to make extra money from the war, will be tried in Kyiv. This group operated for 10 months in 2022-2023, collecting donations supposedly to help children who suffered during the war, seizing funds amounting to almost 11 million hryvnia
Fake charities are also created to raise funds to help military personnel and their families. They may reach out to people through social media, email, or even in person, encouraging donations.
Another popular scheme is fake job offers. Fraudsters post advertisements for well-paid jobs or work-from-home jobs that seem very attractive. When a person responds to such an offer, they may be asked to pay for training, materials, or other services that no one actually pays for. does not plan to provide - this is just a way to pump out money. As noted by the National Police, with such offers, scammers are trying to reach out to military personnel who have been demobilized for health reasons or for some other reasons and are looking for work
“Phishing” also remains very common. Fraudsters send emails, SMS or social media messages that appear to be official messages from banks, payment processors or other organizations in order to obtain sensitive information such as passwords or bank details
Equally relevant is identity fraud. In these cases, false documents or false identities may be used to open credit accounts, obtain loans, or make purchases in the victim's name.
Tech support scams are also still happening, where thieves pretend to be technical support representatives from well-known companies and ask for access to your computer or bank account information, promising a solution to supposed software or hardware problems.
Answering the question about what schemes the military and their families suffer from, in addition to communicating with fake philanthropists, the State Investigative Directorate named several. The first is fake messages about payments. We are talking about cases when a person can be sent fake messages about supposed payments, pensions or compensation, which need to be obtained through special websites. They ask military personnel or their relatives to enter personal data or even pay a fee in order to receive funds.
Another scheme is real estate scams. Military personnel are offered to purchase real estate on favorable terms, using fake documents or non-existent property. After receiving an advance payment, such “sellers” disappear.
Offers to take out quick loans or loans on favorable terms are also common. At the same time, those who offer this require an advance payment or fees for document processing, after which they also disappear. Therefore, before clicking on any message and agreeing to anything, you should check information
Talking about situations where military personnel become victims of fraudsters, the Main Directorate of the National Police gives examples when, having received confidential data of military personnel, fraudsters withdrew funds from their accounts. One of such cases was in the Dnepropetrovsk region, where a group of people were exposed who withdrew 197 thousand hryvnia from a military account And investigators in the Cherkasy region, during the investigation of criminal proceedings, proved the guilt of a local resident who, through the unauthorized use of software products, made a number of transactions with the bank accounts of a serviceman, as a result of which he lost almost 160 thousand
Such crimes are also committed against the relatives of deceased servicemen. One of such situations occurred in the Kirovograd region, where the fact of the theft of funds that the wife of a deceased soldier received as assistance from the state was documented. The criminal called the woman, identified himself as a representative of the bank's security service. Having received the confidential data of the victim, he took it from her. her accounts are 3 million
HOW TO DONATE CORRECTLY
Checking collections to help military or war victims and their authors is very important to make sure that your funds will actually go to charitable purposes, law enforcement officers say. Here are some recommendations on how to do this
First, check the fundraisers. This can be done by researching their profiles on social media or fundraising platforms. Look for reviews and recommendations from other people who have already donated. If the fundraiser is an official organization, find their website and check the information about it, in particular contact details and licenses
Secondly, check the platforms themselves that charge fees. Well-known and trusted platforms have their own user and fee verification procedures, which helps reduce the risk of fraud. Read reviews of these platforms and make sure they have a good reputation.
Third, pay attention to the transparency of the collection. Reliable organizers provide detailed information about the purpose of the fundraiser, how it will be used and how to obtain a report on the use of funds. If the information is unclear or missing, this may be a sign of fraud
You can also contact official organizations that provide military assistance to see if they support a particular fundraiser. Many well-known charities and volunteer organizations have their own military assistance programs, and donating through them may be safer
Don’t hesitate to ask questions to the authors of the fundraisers. Ask them about the details of the project, who exactly will be helped, how you can confirm that the funds actually reached the recipients. The real organizers of the meeting are always ready to provide all the necessary information and answer your requests
Law enforcement officers also advise paying attention to the security of their own pages on social networks, especially military ones. Since situations like this, when military pages on social networks are hacked and people ask for money on their behalf, also happen. Fraudsters use stolen accounts to contact friends and relatives of victims asking for financial assistance, creating the illusion of urgency and danger This can lead to loss of money and the dissemination of confidential information
As the National Police explained to us, in order to protect yourself from such fraud, it is important to adhere to several recommendations. First, use complex passwords that include letters, numbers and special characters, and change them regularly. Second, enable two-factor authentication on all your accounts. to further protect them from unauthorized access Third, be alert to suspicious messages and requests, even if they come from people you know. If you receive a request for help, always try to confirm its authenticity by calling or writing directly to that person
It's also worth limiting access to personal information on your social media pages by setting privacy so that only trusted people can see your posts and data. Finally, be wary of suspicious links and applications that may contain malicious software. your page has been hacked, change your passwords immediately and notify the social network support service
WHEN YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A MILITARY PERSON, THE FRAUDSTERS ARE LOOKING FOR YOU
Through social networks, scammers can also knock on the personal doors of relatives of military personnel. This happens in cases when the military does not get in touch for a long time and their relatives are looking for them, posting posts asking for information if someone knows something.
Recently, in an interview with Censor.NET, the Commissioner for Issues of Missing Persons under Special Circumstances, Artur Dobroserdov, said that there are cases when relatives of military personnel report that some people are calling them, saying that supposedly a military man is in captivity, asking money for information “Fraudsters see a post on social networks that a person is looking for a missing military man, they understand what his psycho-emotional state is, and they take advantage of it
They collect additional information from other open sources, then prepare their own version of events and call the author of the post. For example, they say that the soldier is in captivity and is supposedly in serious condition, he needs to undergo surgery. Then they name the amount that the soldier’s relatives should transfer to a bank card They say that they won’t do anything until they receive money. And, unfortunately, many families have become victims of such scammers,” Dobroserdov noted.
After this conversation, I asked the police what to do for a person who is looking for his loved one through social networks and such scammers have contacted him. Because on the one hand, it is clear that people will write posts when they are looking for one of their relatives in desperation. On the other hand, law enforcement officers would have the opportunity to document the actions of such scoundrels if a person understood which of them to contact, who to consult in such a situation, and was sure that this communication would not harm in the search
The first advice I heard from law enforcement officers in response to my question: call “102” or contact the regional police department. Of course, this can also be done. But it is unlikely that many people will listen to such advice and receive a reaction that would help them respond quickly on the actions of those who got in touch to report something about the military. Therefore, I asked the cyber police department if it was possible to contact them in such cases
“You can contact our department directly, we will respond to such requests immediately,” explained the head of the department for countering types of online fraud of the Cyber Police Department, Alexander Ulyanenkov, “You can come and report, or you can submit an application on the website, through electronic requests, we analyze them daily Because, for example, in one of the cases, relatives of a military man who encountered such fraud are abroad and cannot come, but we are also working on it
Military personnel can also inform us about crimes committed against them through electronic appeals, if it is not possible to come in person and write a statement. The descriptive part of the letter must indicate that we are talking about a serviceman or a military family. We take all these appeals into our work and transmit them at the same time information to the territorial police departments, because we cannot open criminal proceedings - this is the prerogative of the investigation"
Commenting on such situations, he noted that the reasons under which they write to the relatives of military personnel can be different. “It happens that a man who introduces himself as the commander of a military unit writes to a military man’s wife. He says that he knows where her husband is and can give him a parcel, but I have to go there 700 kilometers, send 4 thousand for gasoline Or they come up with other reasons so that a person will believe them and drop money The money is usually small, perhaps it is calculated that not all people will want to go to the police But at least and they supposedly take a meager amount, due to the number of deceived people, they earn normally. Therefore, it is very important to report such cases”
“CATCHING” VICTIMS IN CELEBRITY PHOTO
Commenting on fraudulent schemes, law enforcement officers also draw attention to the fact that during the war, members of international criminal organizations, which include foreigners, also try to implement them on the territory of our country. So last year, Ukrainian law enforcement officers extradited to the Czech Republic members of criminal groups who deceived hundreds of citizens of this country, located on the territory of Ukraine. These are two groups, each of which created call centers
According to the deputy head of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, Artem Shevchishen, according to the norms of the Criminal Procedural Legislation of Ukraine, law enforcement agencies of foreign states do not have the right to independently carry out any investigative (search) actions on the territory of Ukraine. Carrying out such investigative actions is possible only by law enforcement agencies of Ukraine on the basis of a request for an international legal assistance, including with the participation of representatives of law enforcement agencies of other states. But this procedure takes some time
This is why criminals commit offenses while on the territory of Ukraine, realizing that it takes a lot of time to identify and detain them. Also, criminals do not commit crimes against Ukrainian citizens, since then Ukrainian law enforcement agencies will be able to detain them and bring them to justice under domestic law
Perhaps they also hope that law enforcement officers will be more involved in carrying out tasks in the combat zone, since the media constantly write about their involvement in the brigades that are fighting
“In the first case, the detainees had a telephone database of citizens of the Czech Republic, whom the scammers called and deceived. They were helped in this by certain psychological skills and the ability to conduct a conversation, manipulate information, and the talent to convince people to take the actions they needed,” said Artem Shevchishen, “In the second case victims were selected using databases that were purchased on the Internet from unidentified persons, after which, using the method of “cold calling,” everyone who answered the phone was asked to follow their instructions.”
During calls, scammers who were part of one of the groups used spoofing technology, that is, replacing a phone number with any desired one. Posing as employees of the security service of a banking institution, they informed victims that their bank account had been hacked, and in order to save funds they needed to temporarily transfer them to another criminally provided “safe” account
It was possible to identify and detain the group through a set of investigative and procedural actions, in particular, information provided by Czech law enforcement officers about the movement of victims’ funds, connection to the victims’ devices, after which, on the territory of Ukraine, having worked out the circle of persons and network traffic of information, it was possible to establish the location of those involved in fraudulent schemes and their detain
And the other day, law enforcement officers of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania simultaneously carried out a special operation to eliminate a fraudulent scheme, several of the organizers of which were Ukrainians
The attackers acted according to the following scheme: they created advertisements on Internet sites, where they offered citizens the opportunity to secure, quickly, and most importantly, high earnings after making small investments. Celebrities depicted in advertisements or the official logos of large local banks aroused trust among potential victims, which gave the defendants the opportunity deceive a large number of people The advertisement contained a link to a website, after clicking on which potential “clients” were offered to quickly receive income
Interestingly, using people’s trust as a tool, scammers tested call center employees with a polygraph
War makes us vulnerable and criminals skillfully use this. It’s worth taking this into account when you want to help someone or earn some money for yourself
