Well-known fraudulent schemes worked: two Ukrainian women were deceived by Internet scammers

A resident of Netishyn lost over 47 thousand hryvnias trying to apply for financial assistance online, and in Kamianets-Podilskyi region a woman transferred money for non-existent firewood.

As reported by the Shepetivskyi District Police Department, scammers are ruthlessly taking advantage of the difficult situation of Ukrainians during the war, creating clone pages of state and international organizations. A 49-year-old Netishyn woman became the victim of such a scheme.

In the messenger, the woman came across an ad about providing a one-time cash payment from a humanitarian organization in the amount of 7,500 hryvnias. After clicking on the link, the victim indicated her bank details – code, numbers on the back of the card and SMS code from the bank. Immediately after that, 47,107 hryvnias disappeared from the applicant's account.

Law enforcement officers of Kamianets-Podilskyi region said that, having believed a pseudo-seller of firewood, a 59-year-old woman lost about 8 thousand hryvnias.

Yes, the victim found an ad on social networks about selling firewood at a fairly favorable price. The woman called the number specified in the ad to agree on the details of the purchase.

The seller informed the applicant that he would deliver the firewood only after full payment and assured that he would immediately bring the wood after payment. Forgetting about caution, the victim transferred about 8 thousand hryvnias to the account specified by the fraudster. However, after that, communication with the seller was lost.

Currently, the police are investigating the circumstances of the events and are urging citizens to trust messages about social payments only from official sources and to buy products only from trusted suppliers.

“Do not follow unknown links on social networks and messengers and do not enter bank card details on unfamiliar Internet resources. Also, be careful if the seller's account was created a few days ago and the ad uses poor-quality photos from the Internet – this is a sign of scammers, law enforcement officers warn.

Natasha Kumar

By Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116