Ukrainians have found a way to get “Zelensky’s thousand” in cash

11 December 2024 16:08

Vodafone and lifecell subscribers have been disabled from using the refund function because of attempts to cash out funds received from the state under the Winter eSupport program. This was announced by EasyPay CEO Oleksiy Avramenko on his Facebook page on December 11, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.

“Unfortunately, we were forced to DISABLE the refund function for Vodafone and Life subscribers. Since there are “especially smart” Ukrainians who decided to defame the idea of UAH 1000 of “Winter eSupport” in such a way, the service will not work for everyone, due to the misuse of state aid,” Avramenko wrote.

It should be noted that this is a service that allowed subscribers of the above mobile operators to transfer money from their mobile phone number to a bank card.

The decision to cancel the refund service caused outrage among Ukrainians. In particular, they left the following comments:

“What about those people who withdraw money NOT from Winter eSupport?
Where do people break the rules? Is the mobile phone number topped up? Yes, it is. Does a person have the right to withdraw funds from the account? Yes. So what is being violated?
And what should people who did not receive a thousand do? Why should everyone suffer because of some scammers?
Okay, the ability to withdraw funds to the card has been disabled. But bring back the ability to pay for utilities and other services from a mobile account. I just had 400 hryvnias on my Lifecell account, which I wanted to use to pay for electricity today, and now it’s impossible.
Together we go to the playmarket and appstore and leave them great feedback.
Are you sure the terminals will survive this?

MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak also reacted to the situation.

“It is clear that our economic geniuses did not even think about how easy it is to “barter” this 1000 UAH. This is what many fraudsters have already done in three simple steps: received money, replenished their mobile number, and withdrew money from the phone in cash. Thank you, dear government officials, especially the Ministry of Economy, for allowing us to use public money in such a great way,” Zheleznyak wrote.

The Winter eSupport project was launched on December 1. It provides an opportunity for Ukrainians to receive UAH 1 thousand of assistance, which citizens have already called “Zelensky’s thousand.” We’ll tell you when and how the money will be paid, as well as what you can spend it on.

The service is available for adults and children living in Ukraine (except for the temporarily occupied territories). You can apply for Winter eHelp from December 1, 20204 to February 28, 2025.