Kept her savings and lost 175,000: a woman in Mykolaiv fell victim to phone scammers

In Mykolaiv a 35-year-old local resident fell victim to a telephone scam and lost 175 thousand hryvnias, the regional police reported.

According to law enforcement, an unknown person called the woman, presenting himself as a bank employee. Under the pretext of “protecting funds” he convinced her to perform a series of actions in a mobile application.

Following the prompts of the purported employee, the victim personally transferred all her savings to the scammers’ accounts.

After that the victim contacted the police. Investigators opened a criminal case under Part 3 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Fraud”), the penalty of which provides for up to 5 years of imprisonment. Law enforcement is currently identifying those involved.

The police emphasize that such criminal schemes remain widespread: scammers call or write in messaging apps, pose as bank employees, frighten with “card blocking”, “suspicious transactions” or lure with promises of “easy earnings”.

The purpose of such calls is to obtain confidential bank card data or to force a person to transfer funds to someone else’s accounts on their own.

Citizens are advised to follow financial security rules: do not give card details to third parties, do not follow instructions from strangers and do not click on suspicious links. If a call raises doubts, end the conversation immediately and call the bank at its official number.

Previously we wrote:

• Scammers cheated residents of Mykolaiv region out of over 600 thousand hryvnias
• In Mykolaiv region, women were scammed of 45 thousand hryvnias under the pretext of a cyberattack and state assistance
• “Bank” by phone and fake ads: Mykolaiv residents scammed of nearly 100 thousand hryvnias
• “Saved” from theft — stole themselves: crafty “backup cards”
• A Mykolaiv resident was deceived by pseudo-bankers: how not to become a victim of a scam?