"Help for money" is a trap: scammers are massively targeting families of prisoners and the missing

The Coordination Headquarters for Prisoner of War Affairs reports a sharp rise in fraudulent activity targeting families of prisoners of war and the missing.

This concerns one of the most vulnerable groups of Ukrainians — people who are waiting for information about their relatives who are held captive or missing during the war. It is their emotional state that is exploited by both ordinary scammers and the intelligence services of the aggressor country.

According to the Coordination Headquarters, perpetrators may contact families through social networks, messengers, pseudo‑volunteer or pseudo‑legal organizations. Sometimes they even act through acquaintances or people whom the families tend to trust.

Most often scammers promise “help” — allegedly searching for the person, facilitating release, getting them added to exchange lists, or providing information about the defender’s whereabouts. In return they demand money or confidential data.

Separately, the Coordination Headquarters warns about cases when unknown persons call relatives of defenders, present themselves as officials or employees of institutions on the territory of the Russian Federation and offer — for a fee — to “assist” in including a prisoner of war on exchange lists.

The headquarters emphasizes: all processes related to searching for, determining the whereabouts of, and releasing prisoners of war are carried out exclusively by authorized state bodies.

“All processes related to searching for, determining the whereabouts of, and freeing prisoners of war are carried out exclusively by authorized state bodies. No ‘intermediaries’ have or can have any influence on the negotiation process. Any offers of ‘help for money’ are fraud,” the statement reads.

Families of prisoners of war and the missing are advised not to trust unknown persons, not to transfer funds, not to disclose personal data, and in case of suspicious calls to immediately contact the Coordination Headquarters and law enforcement agencies.

Previously we wrote:

• “Don’t be silent. Captivity kills”: in Mykolaiv they reminded about prisoners of war and the missing
• Ukraine returned 186 people from Russian captivity, including defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal
• More than 700 Azov fighters in captivity for the fifth year: the Russian Federation has sentenced 250 and systematically removes them from exchange lists
• Under the guise of help: how scammers prey on families of the missing and the captured
• “Pay money or provide intimate photos”: how Russia pressures the families of Ukrainian prisoners