Fraud During the War. How to Protect Your Money?

Even in wartime, fraudsters do not stop trying to deceive people.

Pivdenny Bank is constantly working to increase the security level of all banking transactions and protect clients’ funds. However, to ensure maximum reliability, we ask our clients to be as vigilant and attentive as possible when making banking transactions and follow simple security rules.

The most common cases of fraud during the war:

1. Under the guise of paying for the evacuation of people, fraudsters ask for an advance payment to a card, but never fulfill their obligations and simply disappear.
   Keep in mind:It is safe to buy train or bus tickets only on official online resources. In the case of transportation by strangers’ private cars, insist on a cash prepayment at the time of departure, do not make any money transfer to them in advance.
2. Fraudsters publish announcements which say that they are ready to rent out apartments in safe areas to IDPs and ask for an advance payment to their cards, and they stop answering after receiving the funds.
   Keep in mind:do not transfer funds until you make sure that they are not fraudsters. To do this, ask your friends or volunteers who are in the city where you plan to rent housing to personally check it at the address and, if possible, meet with lessors. In addition, try to “book” an apartment with a promise to transfer funds soon and then call with the same request using another phone number. If they don’t tell you during the conversation that the apartment is already “booked”, there is a high probability that they are fraudsters.
3. Fraudulent websites to help Ukrainians affected by the war or to raise funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Phishing websites offer to fill out a payment form: card number, validity period, three-digit security code on the back of the card and an SMS code from your bank. Criminals use the information you give them to steal the money from your account.
   Keep in mind:phishing websites are visually similar to the websites of real charitable foundations but differ in the address of the website. Check that the names of the websites you visit and where you enter your personal information are correct. Addresses of real and fraudulent websites may be the same except for one or more characters.
4. A fraudster may call on behalf of a bank employee and report that your card has been blocked (or may be blocked). To “unblock” it, a fraudster will ask for confidential details.
   Keep in mind:a real bank employee will never ask for confidential card details because it is a violation of the law.
5. A fraudster calls under the guise of an employee of the Pension Fund (or other public institution) and informs that funds (pension supplement, additional accruals, financial assistance, etc.) will be transferred to your card. Or, vice versa, that the card has been blocked and you need to transfer your money to a new one. To receive a payment or money transfer, a fraudster will try to find out the secret details of your card.
   Keep in mind:to send any amount of funds to your account, the sender only needs to know the card number. If you are persuaded to disclose confidential information, it is fraud!

We will also remind you of the following general security rules of card accounts:

1. Always keep your card details confidential.
2. Never, under any circumstances, disclose your card and account details by phone:
   • card validity period;
   • three-digit security code on the back of the card (CVV2/CVC2 code);
   • passwords that the bank sends in SMS;
   • card PIN code;
   • passwords you receive in SMS;
   • password to MyBank online banking;
   • personal identification data: passport series and number, “security word” and last card transactions.
3. Make payments online only on secure and verified websites.
4. Before using the ATM, carefully inspect it from the outside and refrain from using it if you find suspicious devices on the keyboard or near the card reader.
5. Activate the function of reporting all card account transactions in SMS.

If you have lost your payment card or if the personal data of your card has become known to third parties, IMMEDIATELY contact the Customer Support Center of Pivdenny Bank at 0 800 30 70 30 and block it.