Ukrainian blogger Mannequin lost more than UAH 6 million: a new fraud scheme is revealed
16 October 14:06
Blogger Ksyusha Mannequin (Oksana Voloshchuk) became a victim of fraudsters who stole more than UAH 6 million from her bank account.
The woman shared the details of this story in a video message on Instagram, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Fraudsters stole more than UAH 6 million
The blogger, who is also the owner of the ODA brand, decided to withdraw a certain amount of money from her private individual account at Monobank. To do this, Mannequin contacted the bank’s Telegram support chat, where a manager contacted her. However, as it turned out, the chatbot was fake, and Ksenia was contacted by fraudsters.
The blogger was assured that her request would be fulfilled, but first she needed to delete and re-download the bank’s mobile app because there were allegedly some problems. The mannequin did everything as instructed, as she was convinced that she was talking to a bank manager. In this way, the fraudsters gained access to Ksenia’s account, from which they transferred UAH 6.2 million to various individual entrepreneurs.
“I did it without fear, I didn’t feel any danger. At this time, the fraudsters use a browser to log into my account using my number. I delete the application, and at that moment they start transferring funds from my sole proprietorship to different sole proprietorships in Ukraine. I didn’t notice it right away, so I didn’t pick up the phone and trusted the person from the bank. 6 million 200 thousand were transferred to individual entrepreneurs,” the blogger said.
Manikin realizes that it is her fault, because she fell for the scammers. However, the blogger is outraged by the bank, which did not suspect her when they suddenly started transferring UAH 500-700 thousand from her account one by one to different individual entrepreneurs, which, according to Ksenia, are listed as fraudulent even in an Internet search.
The blogger added that Monobank could not help, and the lost funds were needed for her business – salaries, rent, fabric purchases, etc.
Bank’s response
Monobank co-founder Oleg Gorokhovsky said he was very sorry about the situation. However, the businessman called the accusations against the bank unfounded.
According to him, no bank in the world could have saved these funds, because the individual entrepreneurs to whom the amounts were transferred were normal, not fraudulent.
Horokhovsky says that the bank’s analysis system did not recognize the transactions as suspicious, as they were “fairly typical business activity for entrepreneurs.”
“We perceive any loss of money by clients as our defeat. And after almost every case, we draw conclusions and improve the system,” he wrote on Telegram.
Gorokhovsky emphasized that Monobank is making every effort to return the funds and find the perpetrators. He also urged Ukrainians to follow basic rules of financial hygiene to avoid becoming victims of fraud.
