“Anyone who has a bank card or digitally managed savings is at risk,” Viktor Orban said in his regular Friday morning interview on public radio, in reference to Ukrainian online scams. The Hungarian prime minister explained that these scams have existed for some time, previously written in broken Hungarian, but have since become more sophisticated. He emphasized the need for authorities to devote more energy to public awareness and assistance, adding that these scams have affected assets worth eight billion forints.
PM Orban spointed out that
efforts are being made to recover the stolen funds, and so far, 1.5 billion forints have been reclaimed.
The government will allocate additional financial resources to the police to involve more personnel in fraud prevention.
He highlighted that
eighty percent of online scams are linked to Ukrainian criminal groups, but the Hungarian police have effective means to act against international fraudsters. These criminal groups operate with a Ukrainian background, consist of Ukrainian people, they are based in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian mafia doesn’t only function in traditional ways but also runs sophisticated, modern, mafia-like operations, he said, stressing that
Ukraine is a dangerous country.
Regarding Ukraine becoming an EU member country, Viktor Orban remarked that such a move would primarily make things simpler for Ukraine, as its financial service providers would then receive the same treatment as those within the EU. However, combating their criminals would become more difficult.
The prime minister noted that so far, authorities have identified 169 suspects, with European arrest warrants having been issued against most of them, and the European arrest warrant system can help. However, as he put it,
it's better to keep the Ukrainians out.
Consultative Vote Voks 2025
Orban confirmed that
more than 1.6 million ballots were returned during the consultative vote Voks 2025.
The prime minister said that at the ongoing CPAC event, he observed from the perspective of the foreign guests in attendance that
the peoples of Europe agree that Ukraine's admission would cause problems.
Unlike in Hungary, it is not customary in Western Europe to ask the people about such issues because the elite reserves this decision-making right for itself, PM Orban said.