During 2019-2020, the SBU shut down 25 illegal call-centers with a multi-million turnover, which involved in extortion of money from citizens on the Internet.

The volume of such fraud is growing along with the spread of e-commerce. Generally, call centers are one of the chains of the criminal system. SBU cyber specialists jointly with the National Police are taking comprehensive measures to localize and block such schemes.

Due to joint efforts, law enforcement officers conducted 45 searches in offenders’ offices, seized over 600 pieces of equipment, 14 people received notices of suspicion of committing crimes.

For example, in June 2020, SBU uncovered an organized criminal group in Kryvyi Rih city. Its members extorted personal data from citizens under the guise of the alleged SIM cards recovery, and then take out online loans on behalf of others. Thus, fraudsters stole over UAH 1 million (USD 37,000) from citizens. More than 300 people suffered from such illegal actions.

Four group members were detained and received notices of suspicion of committing crimes stipulated by Part 4 of Art. 190, part 3 of Art. 28, part 1, Art. 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In general, SBU cyber experts note that the most common schemes of fraudsters: extortion of personal data or bank card details from citizens, involving them in pseudo-investment projects, taking out of loans in someone else's name, selling counterfeit or missing goods.

The organizers hire students, foreigners and poor people. Moreover, they often use capacity of Russian companies that are under sanctions in Ukraine.

In order to counter fraud, SBU cyber specialists not only hold nationwide special events, but also recommend citizens to raise their awareness on this issue. In particular, it is recommended not to disclose personal information and bank card details and not to record them on questionable web resources. People have to consult only in the official call-centers of their banks and avoid suspicious financial transactions and projects.