COMINVESTBANK became a partner of the payment security campaign #FraudsterGoodbye implemented by the National Bank and the Cyber Police

On 3 May 2023, the National Bank of Ukraine launched the All-Ukrainian information campaign on payment security #ШахрайГудбай (#FraudsterGoodbye). It will be a follow-up to the first such campaign which has been successfully held in 2020.

Its goal is improving public awareness and remind them of the basic safety rules for cashless payments, especially on the Internet.

During the full-scale war, payment fraud didn't disappear; rather, there was increasing incidence of cyber fraud and cybercrime. Social engineering has traditionally remained the most popular method of payment card fraud in Ukraine, as well as worldwide.

«We believe that the #ШахрайГудбай (#FraudsterGoodbye) campaign is especially relevant during the war, when fraudsters take advantage of citizens' vulnerability, anxiety, and difficulties. This can only be countered through awareness and critical thinking. It is noteworthy that most cases when citizens lose their money are caused by disclosure of their card details, one-time passwords to confirm transactions, and login details to online banking. Half of the total amount of losses from payment card fraud occurred due to social engineering. They could have been avoided by remembering and following the rules of safe use of payment cards," said Andrii Podderiohin, Director of the Payment Systems and Innovative Development Department. Through this campaign, the NBU and its partners hope to remind as many citizens as possible, especially young people who are the most active users, of the important rules of payment security, raise awareness among Ukrainians, and continue to foster a safe culture of behaviour in the virtual space.»

Last year, the amount of losses incurred by banks, merchants, and customers from illegal actions with payment cards totalled over UAH 481 million. This is 46% more than in pre-war 2021. The number of illegal actions with payment cards that resulted in losses increased by 8%.

In 2022, the average amount of one illegal transaction was about UAH 2,200, which is a third more than in 2021 (in 2021, it was UAH 1,600)

At the same time, if we calculate the level of losses from illegal actions with payment cards in the total amount of all payment card transactions, it remained relatively low.

For example, illegal actions/fraudulent transactions accounted for UAH 69 per million of payment card transactions. This is not much more than in 2021 (UAH 65), and indicates that last year the amount of fraud losses grew commensurate with the growth in the amount of payment card transactions by Ukrainian banks.

Andrii Podderiohin also added that 86% of the total number of payment fraud cases in 2022 occurred on the Internet, while only 14% were committed through physical devices (retail chains, ATMs, self-service devices).

«Since the beginning of this year, the Cyber Police Department has received more than 20,000 complaints from citizens, of which more than 75% were related to online fraud. Similar percentages were observed last year, so combating online fraud remains one of the main areas of work of the cyber police,», said Yurii Vykhodets, Head of the Cyber Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine.

Therefore, during the campaign, the NBU, together with its partners, will remind citizens of the simple basic rules of payment security. The basic rules include:

• SMS codes from banks and mobile operators, three digits on the back of a card (CVV code), logins and passwords to online banking should be kept secret;
• before entering your payment card details or passwords to online banking into any form, you should check the URL of the required resource, as any differences may indicate that the user has ended up on a phishing site.

In addition, the NBU plans to conduct large-scale educational activities in educational institutions. From 3 April to 31 May 2023, the NBU will hold educational events for educational institutions aimed at raising the level of knowledge of children and youth on payment security, including:

1) Marathon of Ambassadors of the #ШахрайГудбай (#FraudsterGoodbye) campaign, a project for teachers who combat payment fraud and organise payment security education activities based on educational materials developed by the NBU;

2) the Payment Security in Comics contest, an initiative in which students will create a comic book on payment security using artificial intelligence tools: ChatGPT chatbot and Midjourney or Bing Image Creator;

3) PaySafe video contest on payment fraud - an initiative where students will create videos with tips on how to protect themselves from common payment fraud scenarios.

A separate website was created for these educational events, which describes the detailed conditions for participation in the marathon and competitions: https://promo.bank.gov.ua/marathon-stopfraud/.

«We are pleased to support the campaign to combat payment fraud organised by the National Bank of Ukraine. It is extremely important for young people who actively use social media and share a lot of personal information on the Internet to be aware of fraudsters and avoid fraudulent schemes. As Ukraine moves towards the development of digital finance, it is necessary to understand how to protect data on the Internet and verify payment transactions,»commented Robert Bond, USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project Chief of Party.

The information campaign will continue until the end of the year in all regions of Ukraine. As part of the campaign, the NBU and its partners will inform citizens about how to protect themselves from payment fraud, including through an updated thematic website (landing page) #ШахрайГудбай (#FraudsterGoodbye) with detailed information about the campaign and rules of conduct in the virtual space.

For reference.

The NBU is implementing the All-Ukrainian Payment Security Information Campaign #FraudsterGoodbye jointly with the Cyber Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine and with the support of the USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project.

General partners: Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, Free Legal Aid, State Special Communications Service of Ukraine, Ministry of Social Policy, NPS PROSTIR, PrivatBank, OLX.ua, Novapay, Kyivstar, Lifecell, Portmone, Mastercard, YASNO - a supplier of electricity, gas and energy efficiency solutions, EMA Association, ADRA Ukraine

Media partners: Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, Raiffeisen Bank, Ukrgasbank, First Ukrainian International Bank, Ukrsibbank, OTP Bank, Sense Bank, Credit Agricole Bank, Kredobank, Tascombank, A-Bank, Bank Vostok, Bank Credit Dnipro, MTB Bank, Accordbank, Bank Alliance, Idea Bank, Pravex Bank, Bank Globus, Commercial Industrial Bank, Concord Bank, Bank Clearing House, Bank for Investments and Savings, Radabank, Industrialbank, Crystalbank, Agroprosperis Bank, UkrBudInvestBank, RwS bank, Unex Bank, Bank Ukrainian Capital, Bank 3/4, Motor Bank, Cominvestbank, First Investment Bank, Polikombank, Bank Portal, BTA Bank, Ukrainian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Alpari Bank, Foxtrot, Comfy, Epicentre, NGO "All-Ukrainian Association of IT Grandmothers", SOCAR, WOG, Prom.ua, Visa, Ukrainian Association of Financial Companies.