Credit Agricole Bank joined the NBU information campaign to counteract payment fraud

On 7 July 2020, the National Bank runs the All-Ukrainian information campaign against payment fraud. The objective of the campaign is to teach Ukrainians key rules of cashless and online payments safety. Credit Agricole Bank joined the campaign as the information partner.  

The most popular method of fraud with payment cards both in Ukraine and in globally is social engineering, when people transfer the money to fraudsters themselves or disclose the details of their cards. In times of confinement and massive switch to online transactions, the challenge for all central banks in all countries is to protect people against such dangers.  

“We used to struggle against ATM skimmers via which the fraudsters stole card data but now we struggle for awareness of the population as, in most cases, people fall victims of the fraudsters due to failure to observe basic payment safety rules”, Oleksii Shaban, Director of Payment Systems and Innovative Development Department of the National Bank, emphasizes.  

According to him, nearly 72 thousand illegal actions with payment cards occurred in Ukraine last year. 58% of them took place in the Internet while the fraud with ATM skimmers is almost in the past.

In 2020, due to lockdown measures, Ukrainians more and more often chose cashless payments and online purchases. Fraudsters also developed new scenarios where pretending to be public authorities they promise financial aid in connection with lockdown and thus, cheat out of payment card data.   

“It the first time in Ukrainian history that the NBU organizes such a wide-scale campaign to counteract payment fraud and is supported by a large number of like-minded people. More than 50 partners representing socially responsible business in various industries wished to join. By joint efforts of the National Bank, Cyber Police, banks, payment systems, mobile operators, web stores we will run an unprecedented information campaign and stand up against fraudsters”, Natalia Bondarenko, Director of Communications Department of the NBU, says. “We will tell about payment safety rules on TV and radio, via newspapers and information portals, in messengers and by SMS, in the metro, train stations, even in the electricity bills. We try to use all possible communication channels to reach the audience and protect citizens against illegal acts of fraudsters. We thank our partners who supported the project”. 

“Credit Agricole Bank joined the wide-scale information campaign of the NBU as its objectives are relevant for us: financial security of customers and improvement of their financial knowledge. Preventive measures are usually the most efficient in counteracting financial fraud. The better the customer informed, the lower is the chance to fall victim of fraudsters. We appreciate this excellent initiative of the National Bank”, Viktoria Torianyk, Head of PR and Internal Communications Division of Credit Agricole Bank, comments.

The information campaign will last during July-August 2020 in all Ukrainian regions. You can learn the details of the campaign here.

General partners of the campaign are: Cyber Police, Ukrainian Interbank Payment Systems Member Association "EMA", MasterCard, Visa, PROSTIR, PrivatBank, Raiffeisen Bank Aval, Oschadbank, Alfa Bank, Kyiv Metro, Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine, Lifecell Ukraine, OLX Ukraine, Prom.ua, Viber, power and energy efficient solutions supplier YASNO.

Information partners of the campaign are: Ukreximbank, Ukrgazbank, FUIB, Sberbank, Ukrsibbank, OTP Bank, Credit Agricole Bank, Bank Pivdennyi, Universalbank, Tascombank, KredoBank, Bank Credit Dnipro, Bank Vostok, Megabank, А-Bank, Idea Bank, МТB Bank, Bank of Investments and Savings, Industrialbank, Bank Alliance, Bank Globus, Bank Lviv, Piraeus Bank, Accordbank, Bank Forward, Radabank, Crystal bank, Bank Concord, Commercial Industrial Bank, Agroprosperis Bank, Motor-Bank, Ukrbudinvestbank, IBOX Bank, RwS bank, Bank Ukrainian Capital, Unex Bank, Policombank, Ukrainian Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Bank Trust-Capital.