A criminal group of phishing scammers who embezzled almost UAH 1.2 million will be tried in Ukraine

A pre-trial investigation has been completed in the Zhytomyr region into an organized group of hackers exposed by the SBU, which specialized in stealing money from debit and credit cards of Ukrainians.

Among the victims are residents of 11 regions of our country, mostly front-line ones. Over six months of active «work» the accomplices managed to embezzle almost 1.2 million UAH. Among their victims was a serviceman of the Armed Forces.

It has been documented that in order to gain control over personal online banking accounts, attackers developed «authored» phishing links that were sent to potential victims.

When it was opened, a fake website of one of the state-owned banks was activated, which cloned and transferred the necessary information to the fraudsters – bank card details and numbers of mobile phones tied to them.

Having obtained the necessary data, the attackers remotely tokenized other people's bank cards to their phones and gained access to citizens' own money and credit limits set for them.

After that, the accused bought valuable mobile phones and gadgets for them, expensive watches and household appliances in stores, paying contactlessly – using «NFC» technology.

Later, the equipment was sold – for cash.

Cyber ​​experts of the Security Service of Ukraine and the police have established the involvement of three 17-year-old boys, who are currently studying at one of the Zhytomyr colleges, in the criminal group.

During 11 authorized searches conducted in May 2024 at the places of residence of the defendants in Zhytomyr, Berdychiv and Vinnytsia, law enforcement officers seized mobile phones and laptops that they used in «work».

Based on the evidence collected, the organizer of the phishing group is accused of:

– fraud committed by a re-organized group, under martial law, by carrying out illegal operations using electronic computing equipment (Parts 4 and 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);

– unauthorized interference in the operation of information (automated) systems, committed by a re-organized group (Part 3 of Article 28, Parts 1 and 2 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Similar crimes (Part 5 of Article 190, Part 3 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) are also charged against his accomplices.

Currently, the indictment has been sent to the court.

In order to compensate for the damage caused, the real and movable property of the perpetrators (two cars, a land plot) has been seized. the plot, their shares of apartments and houses).

The documentation was carried out by employees of the cyber unit of the SBU in the Zhytomyr region together with investigators of the Main Police Department in the region and the Cyber ​​Police of Ukraine under the procedural guidance of the regional prosecutor's office.