Ukrainian Scammers on the Rise – How to Protect Your Money from Them

This year alone, Ukrainian scammers have defrauded people out of more than 8 billion forints (nearly 20 million euros). A multitude of people are unaware of how many different ways they can protect the money in their bank accounts. In many cases, protective measures are already in the hands of customers, specifically through the banking mobile apps they use daily.

Illustration (Photo: Pixabay)

Blocking Bank Cards: Customers can instantly and freely suspend card use with one click. This "block" prevents scammers from using the card, and it can be reactivated at any time.

Geolocation Restrictions: At CIB and OTP Bank, customers can restrict card use outside safe domestic or EU regions. OTP and Raiffeisen Bank also allow turning off online use altogether. These settings can be modified any time at no cost.

Temporary Account Lock: OTP Bank’s app lets users temporarily block account access if suspicious activity is suspected. This prevents access from other devices, and only phone support or a bank branch can restore it.

Managing Multiple Devices: Apps like BinX and Erste George allow users to log out parallel sessions on other devices from a primary one.

Banks Also Implement Automatic Protections

Banks are evolving to combat fraud and can now block suspicious transactions the moment they occur. With card payments, they detect mass or geographically unlikely activity. They even filter out transactions that occur so far apart in distance they couldn’t possibly be made in the available time—especially effective against card-cloning fraud. Card companies like Mastercard and Visa also operate their own fraud-detection systems.

These systems work better if customers notify banks before traveling abroad, avoiding the risk of legitimate foreign transactions being blocked as suspicious.

However, detecting transfer-based scams is harder, since customers usually initiate the transactions themselves in good faith after being misled. This aligns with a record spike in frauds involving psychological manipulation in the last quarter of the previous year.

The most important rule for all account holders—but especially for older customers, who are more vulnerable—is to always say no to any phone call or request involving bank account information. In case of the slightest doubt, always verify the request by calling your bank’s official customer service number.

Cover Image: Illustration (Photo: Pixabay)