The Sumy Region Police are looking for fraudsters who deceived four citizens.
A 64-year-old man contacted the Okhtyrsky District Police Department and said that he had found an ad on a social network with a link to apply for financial assistance. After clicking on the link, an unknown person called him and said that he needed to enter the code from the SMS message. Having done this, the man soon discovered that money in the amount of 11,688 hryvnias had disappeared from his bank card.
In Hlukhiv, a 50-year-old woman received a message in the messenger with information about the possibility of receiving financial assistance «from the President» in the amount of 1,000 hryvnias. Interested in the offer, the citizen followed the link in the specified message to a third-party site, where, being misled, she disclosed her secret bank details. As a result of such carelessness, the woman lost more than 55,000 hryvnias, which were transferred to the criminals' cards.
In Sumy, a 71-year-old woman received a phone call from a stranger who, identifying herself as a bank employee, informed the pensioner about the possibility of receiving «social compensation» by transferring her own funds from her bank card to another account. The citizen believed the offers and personally sent over 31,000 hryvnias to the fraudster.
In the Sumy district, a 41-year-old woman, having trusted an unknown telephone caller about the «profitable lending» service, gave him confidential information that enabled the fraudster to take out a loan in the citizen’s name in the equivalent of 1,150 US dollars and transfer the money received to another account.
Based on all the statements, law enforcement officers initiated criminal proceedings under Article 190 «Fraud» of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Police advise citizens to be cautious and considerate when communicating with strangers over the phone, and not to believe offers of financial assistance on social media.