One call — and the money's gone: women in the Mykolaiv region were robbed of nearly 400,000 hryvnias

Fraudsters continue to extort money from people through phone calls, banking apps and psychological pressure. According to the police, in the Mykolaiv district three women immediately became victims of scammers, and the total amount of losses reached nearly 400 thousand hryvnias. The article about these cases was published on April 16, 2026.

A 40-year-old resident of the Mishkovo-Pohorilivska community contacted law enforcement. According to her, an unknown person called, identifying himself as a bank employee, and claimed there had allegedly been interference with her account. On this pretext the interlocutor convinced the woman to increase her credit limit, after which more than 99 thousand hryvnias were withdrawn from her account in several transactions.

Another victim was a 69-year-old woman. In this case the scammer posed as a law enforcement officer and began to intimidate her with alleged involvement in illegal activities and “collaboration with the enemy”. To avoid the fabricated “responsibility”, the victim transferred 90 thousand hryvnias to the fraudsters.

Also, a 30-year-old local woman turned to Police Station No.6 of the Mykolaiv District Directorate. She reported that after speaking with a fake bank employee she followed his instructions in the app and personally transferred 188 thousand hryvnias to the perpetrators’ account.

Police opened criminal proceedings under Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – “Fraud”. The article’s sanction provides for up to eight years of imprisonment. Currently law enforcement officers are identifying those involved in the crimes. The police once again remind: real bank employees do not ask over the phone for card details, CVV codes, PINs, one-time passwords or online banking logins. If there are doubts about an account, you should call the official bank number on the card yourself, and in case of fraud – save correspondence or screenshots and contact the police or call 102.

Note, we previously wrote:

• “You are in line for payments” – no, you are in line for fraud: new scam on Viber
• “You are cooperating with the enemy”: a pensioner gave scammers her last money after a call
• She wanted a payment from the state but helped scammers: in Mykolaiv region a woman was scammed out of almost 60 thousand
• One code – minus 100 thousand: in Mykolaiv region pseudo-bankers completely emptied a woman’s account
• “Ukrenergo pays compensation”? No, scammers sent you a bill