Suspicious message from a government agency? Don’t rush in and make scammers rich.

Scammers may offer public services on behalf of government agencies, namely:

• send a summons to court;
• offer assistance with paperwork, e.g. with getting a driving licence;
• promise “welfare payments”;
• send messages or make calls on behalf of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine, or other government agencies.

Their goal is to make you panic and not double check the information.

How to avoid falling into the trap of scammers?

1. Be extra careful with messages from government agencies.

If you receive a message with a link supposedly from a government agency, do not rush to click on it as it may lead to fraudulent resources. Use only those communication channels that are listed on the official website of the agency and avoid those sent in messages.

1. Double check the websites when entering your data.

Scammers create fake websites that look exactly like official government resources. They can copy the design, logos, and page layout.

The addresses of such websites may differ by only a few characters or even a single letter. Therefore, it is important to:

• carefully check the website address; better yet, search the website yourself through search engine;
• use only official websites of government agencies with the domain gov.ua;
• not click the links from suspicious messages.

1. Double check the information using official sources.

Government agencies do not reach out to Telegram/Viber/Instagram users with offers to “resolve the issue” or facilitate application for “welfare payments”.

If you receive a call from a government agency, do not trust the caller at once.
It is better to call the official number listed on the agency’s official website yourself.

1. Do not rush to follow the instructions from messages or during a call. 

Scammers use emotionally coloured vocabulary to influence you: “urgent”, “last chance”, “due today”. Take a pause to check and analyse the information provided.

1. Do not disclose your CVV code, passwords, SMS codes and in no case should you share your passport details with unknown persons via messengers “for provision of services”.

1. Do not pay for public services by making transfers to any cards. You should only pay for public services by making wire transfers to official bank accounts.

For more details about scams, visit our website.

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