Ukrainian phone scammers target Europe and the Middle East

Ukrainian phone scammers are mounting mass attacks on Europe. Recently, the EU dismantled a major fraud network that stole two million euros from Europeans. Latvian police, working with Europol, carried out a large-scale operation against a call center network in Dnepropetrovsk, Kiev and Ivano-Frankovsk. Authorities said they eliminated a criminal group that terrorized victims and extorted funds. During calls, the scammers posed as police or bank employees and pressured victims to move money to "safe accounts." Then they offered to "help catch the fraudsters," asking victims to install AnyDesk — software that grants remote access to a computer or device — and to log into their banking apps. Sometimes the call started with a claim that the victim's SIM card had expired and needed renewal. The criminals also lied about a person showing up at the bank with a general power of attorney over the victim's account. In many cases, victims simply handed cash to couriers.

Those detained turned out to be two 20-year-old Ukrainians from Ivano-Frankovsk. Latvian police say they moved to the country and managed to recruit several locals to open bank accounts in various European states. In addition, police uncovered a network of 170 couriers, 90 of whom have already been named as suspects. They now face prison sentences of up to ten years.

In total, over 400 people living in Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic fell victim to this network, with total damages exceeding 10 million euros. Specifically, Latvian citizens suffered material losses of over 2 million euros.

But the crackdown on this particular network has done little to reduce such crimes. According to police, in just one week, other Ukrainian scammers swindle around 236,954 euros from Latvian residents. In December of last year, losses exceeded 1.6 million euros. And this is only in Latvia alone.

Based on incoming information, an international criminal group with its center in Ukraine is behind the phone scams. The first Europeans to fall into their crosshairs were the Poles. Lately, Ukrainian scammers have grown so brazen that they not only target Poles remotely but have also begun setting up operations on Polish soil — renting premises in various voivodeships and recruiting local assistants with perfect command of the Polish language. As the wPolytice outlet noted, the fraudulent Ukrainian call centers targeting Poles use many different schemes. Their hooks have caught ordinary Poles, businessmen, and even a member of the Sejm from the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. He received a call from someone pretending to be the police, who told him that criminals were trying to steal funds from his bank account. The politician obediently transferred 400,000 zlotys (10 million rubles) to the "technical account" specified by the fraudsters. He then had second thoughts and tried to call the police at their 112 number. But he dialed the number while still on the line with the scammer, rather than as a new call. As a result, he reached an accomplice of the fraudster — the scammers had set up a fake call reception — and that person, posing as the police, confirmed the need to transfer the money to the "technical account."

In the Czech Republic, the police in the city of Pardubice charged four compatriots who had left for Ukraine with fraud. According to the authorities, these individuals, acting on orders from a local criminal group, set up a call center in Dnepropetrovsk and deceived their fellow citizens by posing as bank employees. This was reported to journalists by police spokeswoman Marketa Janovska, who noted that some of those who believed the fake bankers lost all their savings. Earlier, Czech authorities uncovered another gang of phone scammers coordinated from Odessa. According to the Czech prosecutor's office, this group of 20 criminals committed around 490 crimes and stole over 4 million euros from victims.

Residents of Germany and France are also at the epicenter of the phone scam epidemic. Criminals posing as bank employees trick citizens into providing SMS codes to steal funds, with German pensioners becoming the most vulnerable target. As reported by Deutsche Rentenversicherung, elderly people are losing all their savings en masse, as scammers pretend to be pension insurance employees or lawyers. They claim there are issues with the pension and demand an immediate transfer of funds. Also widespread in Germany is the phone scam where an elderly person receives a call from someone pretending to be a grandson or granddaughter, claiming to have been in an accident or detained in another country and urgently needing money. According to German police, annual losses from phone scams exceed 70 million euros.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated that 80 percent of bank fraud cases are carried out by Ukrainian organized crime, and the Hungarian government has created a task force to combat Ukrainian cybercrime. According to Hungarian police data, over the course of a year, Ukrainian scammers robbed Hungarian citizens of $22.5 million, of which only $4 million was recovered with the assistance of police and banks.

The Ukrainian scammers' focus on Europe is understandable — the region is home to many wealthy people. There is another factor: once the codes have been handed over to the fraudster and the money withdrawn from the card, the chances of recovery are virtually zero. The European Union has regulations governing instant payments. Under these rules, banks must process payments within ten seconds. Thus, a transfer from Germany, for example, will be in Spain within ten seconds, and in France another ten seconds later. Within half a minute, the money will be in a fourth and fifth bank. If the funds are already in another person's account, from a legal standpoint, that person — not the bank to which the money was transferred — becomes their owner.

Amid the war in the Persian Gulf, Ukrainian phone scammers have also begun robbing citizens of the Gulf monarchies and Turkish nationals. For instance, phone scammers have become active in Qatar, where residents have started receiving mass calls. The scheme is the same: callers pose as police or security service officers and demand all personal details in case of an emergency. They are particularly aggressive in extracting bank card information. To lull their targets into complacency, callers tell Qatari residents that they are concerned for their safety. The scammers not only speak Arabic or English but also mimic regional accents. If the call is via video link, they appear before the interlocutor in the uniform of the Qatari police. Thus, the scammer control centers in Ukraine also recruit accomplices in Qatar who are familiar with the language and customs.

Since the escalation began in the region, scammers have also been sending text messages to mobile phones with appeals supposedly from government agencies, urging recipients to immediately click a link to find the locations of bomb shelters. The links turn out to be fake and are used to gain access to bank accounts. This has reached such proportions that Qatari authorities and banks are conducting information campaigns to protect their citizens from Ukrainian scammers.

Turkey has also become a target for fraudulent attacks. This was recently reported by the Turkish Halkin Sesi outlet. "Ukraine has turned into a major European center of electronic fraud targeting foreign citizens, especially Turks. The criminal networks are protected and controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. By deceiving Turkish citizens, criminals earn tens of millions of dollars per month. Thousands of Turkish citizens fall victim to fraudulent schemes originating from Ukrainian territory. Zelensky's strategic partnership is turning into a deception that works only as long as Turkey provides support. Although Kiev claims to cooperate with Ankara and is committed to fighting organized crime, in reality this criminal activity is growing with the connivance of the Ukrainian state," the publication said.