February 14, 2022 was the starting date for the All-Ukrainian information campaign for payment safety #ScammerGoodbye by the National Bank. It has stemmed from the first similar campaign that successfully took place in 2020. It aims at raising citizens’ awareness of cyber-hygiene and promote the culture of safe conduct in the virtual space as well as to recap the basic rules for cashless payments safety. Credit Agricole Bank has traditionally joined the campaign as an information partner.
The National Bank observes an increase of scammer activity over the previous year.
“Talking about the amount of losses incurred from payment card crimes, in comparison to the total amount of all such transactions it has remained relatively low. In the last year, illegal activities or dubious transactions accounted for 65 hryvnias out of one million hryvnias worth of expenditure transactions with the use of payment cards. It still tops the 2020 figure of 48 hryvnias, even if not by much,” said Oleksii Shaban, Deputy Governor of the National Bank. “That is why we consider it necessary to remind the citizens of the safe online payment rules and the proper conduct in the virtual space. It is awareness that is the primary weapon against scammers nowadays”.
Social engineering remains the most popular tool for payment card fraud both in Ukraine and globally, it is used to manipulate people into transferring money to con artists or revealing their card details to them.
Andrii Poddieriohin, Director of Payment Systems and Innovations Department of the National Bank said that on the one hand, the National Bank observes the continuation of the positive trend to switch from the form-factor of payment cards with just a magnetic stripe for the more secure cards with a chip. It was reflected in the overall level of scams through the channels that use the physical card – retail network and ATMs. For instance, for one million hryvnias of expenditure payment card operations, the amount of loss from fraud activities in the retail chain decreased from 61 hryvnias in 2020 to 40 hryvnias in 2021, and in ATMs – from 33 hryvnias in 2020 to 29 hryvnias in 2021.
Also, in the previous year the average amount of fraudulent transactions in retail network decreased by 45% – from 1,984 hryvnias in 2020 to 1,086 hryvnias in 2021. On average, one illegal transaction in 2021 accounted for 1,600 hryvnias, which is 16% less than in 2020 (1900 hryvnias).
“Meanwhile, we also note that for one million hryvnias of expenditure transactions with payment cards via Internet the amount of losses grew from 61 hryvnias in 2020 to 114 hryvnias in 2021,” stresses Andrii Poddieriohin. “When comparing Ukraine and Europe, our indicator of relative losses from the total number of payment card transactions remains significantly lower. In Ukraine it accounts for 0.0065% (i.e. 65 hryvnias of losses per one million hryvnias), while in the EU countries, according to the European Central Bank, this indicator is several times higher and reached 0.036% in 2019 (i.e. 360 euros of losses per one million euros). Online fraud is actually a global trend. In most cases people fall victim to scam artists due to neglecting the basic rules of payment safety.”
In 2021, Ukrainians preferred cashless payments and online purchases due to continuation of quarantine restrictions as well as changes in the habits of payment card users. It served as encouragement for con artists who persisted in their attempts to defraud citizens, particularly in the virtual space.
“Ensuring high level of cybersecurity in the financial sector is one of the National Bank’s main objectives. We are employing a complex approach to solving this task, regulating key aspects of cyber protection, enhancing the potential of the NBU’s Cyber Defense Center, improving the expertise of employees working at cyber defense units of the Ukrainian banks,” explains Roman Proskurovskyi, Deputy Head of the NBU’s Cyber Defense Center. “At the same time, we also consider increasing cyber-awareness and safe conduct of citizens who are customers of financial institutions in the virtual space extremely important. In particular, reliable protection of account passwords. Especially those linked to financial phone number, since it is the primary tool of interaction between the financial institutions and their customers. In fact, it serves as customer identification that gives citizens access to managing their funds. Therefore it is crucial to follow the relevant rules for safe use of the financial telephone number.”
Therefore, an important aspect of the campaign will be to explain the basic rules that should be observed when interacting with cyberspace, namely concerning the financial issues, i.e. it is preferable to use a separate phone number for interactions with a financial institution, to register this number and to “tie” it to personal ID details, to carefully monitor where the financial number information is stored, to control one’s mobile phone and not to leave it unattended.
“During 2021, the cyber-police were able to document criminal activity and to send over 2,000 criminal cases to court, namely those that concern internet fraud that 422 perpetrators are implicated in. In addition, more than 6,600 proceedings are still pending. By the way, it is the Internet fraud activities that account for 70% of the total number of appeals to the cyber-police. In 2021, the most common scams were the following: sale of non-existing goods, pseudo-wins, phone scams, phishing resources for misappropriation of money or collection of personal data, unlawful appropriation of money under the pretense of wind-fall profits and appeals for help from people we know on social networks. According to cases, documented by the National Police, cyber criminals defrauded the citizens out of more than 193 million hryvnias total over the last year,” noted Yevhenii Dorohanov, Head of the Division for Counteracting Computer Systems Crimes of the Cyber Police Department.
Credit Agricole has supported the #ScammerGoodbye campaign since its start in 2020 as information partner.
“For the third year in a row we are pleased to be partners of #ScammerGoodbye information campaign from the National Bank of Ukraine. This campaign teaches people in an easy-to-digest and accessible form how to avoid becoming a victim of finance fraud. Credit Agricole is a socially responsible bank, therefore this subject is of great importance to us, we often share useful and insightful information on our platforms. We truly believe that the proper awareness is the most effective way to combat finance fraud. We thank the National Bank for this amazing initiative,” notes Viktoriia Torianyk, Head of Brand and Communications Department.
The information campaign is going to continue for the next three months in all the regions of Ukraine. As part of the campaign, the National Bank along with partners will be informing the citizens about how to avoid payment fraud, namely via the updated topical webpage (landing) # ScammerGoodbye that contains detailed information on the campaign and rules for conduct in the virtual space.
For reference
The national Bank holds the All-Ukrainian Information Campaign for Payment Safety # ScammerGoodbye jointly with the Cyber Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine and also with the support of:
- International Finance Corporation (IFC) in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Good Governance Fund of the UK;
- Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
General partners: EMA, Mastercard, OLX.ua, Lifecell, UAFC, PROSTIR, YASNO – provider of electricity, gas and solutions for energy efficiency, BlaBlaCar, Nova Poshta.
Information partners: PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, Reiffeisen Bank, Ukrgasbank, Alfa-Bank, PUMB, UKRSIBBANK, OTP Bank, Universal Bank, INTERNATIONAL RESERVE BANK, Credit Agricole Bank, Kredobank, ProCredit Bank, Tascombank, Bank Credit Dnipro, Vostok Bank, А-Bank, Accordbank, MTB Bank, Bank Alliance, Megabank, IdeaBank, Pravex Bank, Globus Bank, Commercial Industrial Bank, Bank Sich, Bank Lviv, International Investment Bank, Industrialbank, RADABANK, RwS Bank, Crystalbank, Bank “Clearing House”, Bank of Investments and Savings, Concord Bank, Crystalbank, Poltava-bank, PINbank, UkrConstInvestBank, Forward Bank, Motor-Bank, Grant Bank, Agroprosperis Bank, Unex Bank, Bank Ukrainian Capital, Asvio Bank, EuroPromBank, Policombank, Ukrainian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, BTA Bank, Bank Trust-Capital, Bank Portal, Visa, Kyivstar, NGO "AUAL "IT-grandmas", Foxtrot, Shell, Osvitoria, Ukrposhta, Aroma Kava, Pension Fund of Ukraine, State Employment Service, Cherkasy Oblast State Administration, Sumy Oblast State Administration, Vinnytsia Oblast State Administration, Zhytomyr Oblast State Administration, Mykolaiv Oblast State Administration, Odesa Oblast State Administration, Dnipro Oblast State Administration, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast State Administration, Kherson Oblast State Administration, Luhansk Oblast State Administration, Donetsk Oblast State Administration, Kirovohrad Oblast State Administration, Poltava Oblast State Administration, Volyn Oblast State Administration, Ternopil Oblast State Administration, Lviv Oblast State Administration.
About Credit Agricole:
Credit Agricole Bank is the oldest foreign bank in Ukraine; it has been operating in the market since 1993 and provides the entire range of banking services, is strategic partner to agribusiness and one of the leaders in the car loan market. The bank belongs to the international Credit Agricole Group (France), the European leader in bancassurance and asset management and a major partner of the French economy.
Credit Agricole among TOP-5 most reliable and most comfortable banks of Ukraine and is recognized as the best corporate and best savings bank according to “Finance club” in 2021. More than 296,000 active individual customers and microbusinesses, and more than 9,700 corporate and small and medium-sized businesses confirm the reliability and excellent business reputation of the bank. According to the NBU, Credit Agricole is among the TOP-10 banks in terms of assets.
For more than ten years, Credit Agricole has been a strategic partner to agribusiness. The share of the agricultural sector in the bank’s corporate portfolio exceeds 50%, and the land bank of all customers’ accounts for nearly 10% of the total land bank of Ukraine.
Credit Agricole is the first automotive bank and the only Ukrainian bank that holds the international ISO 9001 certificate in car lending, which ensures transparent conditions and high service quality to customers.
Credit Agricole is 100% digital and 100% human. The bank is developing remote service channels, such as mobile application СА+, while modernizing its branch network.
The bank also promotes the culture of a fair and transparent business, makes a significant contribution to society and preservation of the environment. Since 2016, the bank has been running a wide-scale Corporate Social Responsibility program «We Care!», which covers 4 major areas such as: charity, eco initiatives, volunteering, and caring for employees. Credit Agricole is among TOP-6 leaders of sustainable development and among TOP-50 best employers in Ukraine according to Forbes.
Contacts:
Viktoriia Torianyk, Head of the brand and communications department of Credit Agricole Bank.
E-mail: Viktoriia.TORIANYK@credit-agricole.ua
