Internet fraudsters swindled two women out of over 36,000 hryvnias

The Ivano-Frankivsk region police have opened criminal proceedings on fraud after two local residents fell victim to various online fraud schemes, losing significant amounts of money.

Law enforcement agencies in Ivano-Frankivsk region are investigating two new cases of fraud, as a result of which local residents lost a total of over 36,000 hryvnias due to their trust in telephone scammers and unverified online sellers.

In the first case, a 56-year-old resident of Kalusa district became a victim of telephone fraud when an unknown person, introducing himself as an employee of a financial institution, offered her to apply for state aid in the amount of 1,000 hryvnias. “After the victim dictated the confirmation code received in an SMS message, the fraudsters illegally seized funds in the amount of 24,500 hryvnias from her bank account”, – reported to the police of the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

The second case concerns a 37-year-old resident of the Ivano-Frankivsk district, who tried to purchase a granulator through an ad site, transferring 12,000 hryvnias to the card of a pseudo-seller, who after receiving the funds stopped contacting and did not send the goods.

Law enforcement officers initiated criminal proceedings in accordance with Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for both facts of fraud, conducting the necessary investigative actions to identify persons involved in illegal activities.

In order to prevent such cases, the Precarpathian police provide citizens with important recommendations on safe online transactions:

• avoid transitions to suspicious links from unknown persons;
• do not disclose confidential payment card data and passwords for confirming payments;
• check information about state aid exclusively on official resources;
• pay attention to the date of registration of sellers on trading platforms;
• use only verified sites for purchases;
• carefully check Website URLs to avoid phishing attacks;
• prefer cash on delivery when purchasing online.