Internet schemes dominate payment card fraud
20 February 15:55
More than 83% of all fraudulent schemes with payment cards are Internet schemes, and only about 17% are criminal actions with the help of physical devices (ATMs, POS and payment terminals). This was stated by Anna Dovgalska, Deputy Chairman of the Board of GLOBUS BANK, referring to the NBU data.
She noted that fraudsters’ methods are becoming more sophisticated. Attackers are constantly improving their skills, especially in the field of social engineering, and are quickly mastering new technologies. This makes it difficult for even experts from the National Bank and commercial banks to completely eradicate fraud.
The expert pointed out that fraudsters often use psychological tricks to make people act impulsively without thinking through their steps. They can appeal to emotions, create a sense of urgency, or use other methods of manipulation. Therefore, in her opinion, it is very important to remain vigilant and critical of any information, especially when it comes to personal finances.
“Fraudsters adapt to any technological innovations much faster than payment card users. Moreover, they focus their efforts on purely psychological issues based on the lack of critical perception of information, on the lack of knowledge of citizens of all the pitfalls of online activity, often appealing to emotions rather than rationality. For example, the number of social engineering frauds increased by almost 40% in 2023 and by about 20% in 2024. Despite the large-scale educational work of banks, the NBU, and experts, the volume of card fraud in Ukraine continues to grow. According to preliminary estimates, in 2022-2024, fraudsters stole about UAH 1.5-1.7 billion from citizens,” the banker emphasized.
Anna Dovgalska highlighted 5 new fraud schemes that emerged in 2024 and are being actively used in 2025.
Non-delivery of goods after prepayment on online platforms
Very often, citizens are lured by unrealistically low prices, which are sometimes ten times lower than the market value of the goods. This mainly concerns a variety of gadgets: cell phones, tablets, laptops, etc. And the main explanation for the “low prices” is “liquidation of the warehouse”, “sale of counterfeit goods”, “demonstration units”.
Pseudo-bank calls
The combination of NLP technology (appealing to fears related to card blocking, debiting, hacker attacks, or the most cynical – that the call is made to prevent “fraudsters who may call”) leads to the fact that citizens, unaware of the fraud, provide criminals with their personal data.
“Fraudsters are still trying to steal personal card data from citizens, and they often do so with the help of psychological pressure, suggestion, and neuro-linguistic programming,” the expert emphasized.
A request for help: “Fundraising”
Social trends, new technologies, the urgency of assistance during the war, and the lack of awareness of citizens in the digital infrastructure contribute to the extortion of funds and the disclosure of personal card data.
“During the war, fraudsters often use social media (and less often phone calls) to fictitiously “raise funds for drones”, “donate to a car” for a specific unit of the Armed Forces, or to obsessively ask for help for victims of military aggression. They often use real photos, names and numbers of military brigades,” the expert explains.
Fake pages of charitable foundations
The wave of new charitable organizations and charitable initiatives encourages fraudsters to create fake pages of real charitable foundations that allegedly raise funds to fight global disasters or epidemics. This is due to the significant popularization of international initiatives to help Ukrainians, where fraudsters hide behind other people’s noble goals.
“Payments from Trump” (payments from the IMF, international charities, etc.)
Most often, fraudsters use well-known politicians and heads of state to patronize their voters, who unconditionally trust them and willingly respond to social assistance “initiatives” allegedly from them. The perpetrators may be disguised as representatives of international funds or organizations offering various compensations and payments, appealing to the difficult economic situation in the country. Since the amounts offered are not very significant (most often from 5 thousand UAH to 10 thousand UAH as a “one-time payment”), some of our citizens respond to this.
“Recently, cases of such fraud have become more frequent against the backdrop of payments under the state program “Winter is Support”. Fraudsters are always “in trend”, using or disguising their criminal intentions under existing social programs. In addition, the relevance of such schemes has increased after the announcement of payments to those abroad. Such schemes have not spared users of Ukrainian banks, where fraudsters lure customers to fake online assistance programs,” emphasized Anna Dovgalska.
The Deputy Chairman of the Board of GLOBUS BANK spoke about the main trends in card fraud and what “weaknesses” fraudsters parasitize on:
- The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), in particular in the creation of dupes (face and voice substitution, copying facial expressions, gestures of the “prototype” of fraudulent schemes).
- “Military schemes”. This is an adaptation of the “scenarios” of fraudulent schemes to military circumstances: criminals raise funds “for the military”, “for drones”, “for cars”. The main goal of such schemes is to get the money and disappear. Another common scenario is “renting out an apartment” for very symbolic money under the pretext of “going abroad to visit family so that the apartment does not stand empty,” “moving to another city,” etc.
- Raising the level of digital awareness of users. Many Ukrainians are still not sufficiently aware of the risks associated with digital payment systems. In Ukraine, as of 2024, about 30% of users still lack sufficient cybersecurity knowledge, which allows fraudsters to manipulate emotions and influence users through fake offers.
- Renting cards and personal data. Fraudsters are increasingly using drop schemes and cryptocurrencies to make them difficult to trace.
- Social engineering. Cases of social engineering techniques have become more frequent, with the help of which fraudsters manipulate people by creating the illusion of urgency. Calls from “bank representatives” have become a frequent problem in Ukraine, which increased the number of fraud cases by 12% in 2024.
The main tips on how not to fall for fraudsters in the current circumstances are as follows
Check the website URL. Always check the URL of the website where you enter your payment information. It should start with “https://” and be official. Do not open suspicious links. In 2024, according to the NBU, 40% of phishing attacks occurred due to incorrect recognition of fake websites.
Do not respond to questionable calls and messages. If someone calls or sends you a message asking for your card details, you should not answer them. Official organizations never request such information via phone call or email.
Do not use the same passwords. It is recommended to use unique passwords for each account. a “strong” password, which provides a high level of security, should be at least 12 characters long and contain a combination of numbers, letters, and special characters.
Keep yoursoftware up todate. The operating system and programs should always be updated, as newer versions of programs are less vulnerable and more secure.
Use multi-factor authentication. It is advisable to enable additional layers of security for your cards and accounts to get the most protection from fraudsters.
Be careful on social media. Do not open fake links in social networks and do not share your personal data on questionable resources.
“In today’s technological world, the fight against card fraud can be a major challenge. However, you should always remember that in most cases, no one will steal your card without your consent. In the digital world, a payment card can actually be perceived as a kind of “passport” because a lot of personal data is attached to it. Therefore, it is very desirable, and perhaps this will be the simplest advice: it is worth treating the protection of card data as if it were a passport,” summarized Anna Dovgalska.
JOINT STOCK COMPANY “COMMERCIAL BANK GLOBUS” (GLOBUS BANK) was founded in 2007. As of July 2024, the regional network includes 32 branches, including 29 that are part of the unified Power Banking network, which allows it to operate in the absence of electricity.
GLOBUS BANK has confirmed the highest credit rating on the national scale at uaAAA, as well as the deposit rating at ua2 according to the scale of the Expert Rating Agency.
The bank’s priority areas of activity are lending to energy efficiency projects, mortgage lending in the primary market, car loans, and lending to small and medium-sized businesses.
GLOBUS BANK is an accredited partner of a number of government programs: the state mortgage program “eOselya”, the program of preferential lending to small and medium-sized businesses “5-7-9”, “Affordable Factoring”, “Affordable Financial Leasing 5-7-9”, “Energy Independence of Individuals – Household Owners”.
The Bank is a partner of the State Institution “Energy Efficiency Fund” under the programs of lending to condominiums and housing cooperatives “Energodom” and “Grindim”.
The Bank is a participant of the state program “National Cashback”.
on June 25, 2024, GLOBUS BANK became one of the 17 largest Ukrainian banks that signed a Memorandum on lending to energy infrastructure restoration projects.
Chairman of the Board of GLOBUS BANK Serhiy Mamedov is Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine and Vice President of the Association of Ukrainian Banks.
