• 16/06/2025 09:03

Law enforcement officers exposed 3 distributors of a phishing site under the guise of “Help”

ByNazar Bogudan

Dec 12, 2024

The investigation established that the defendants were distributing advertisements on Facebook and Google regarding the alleged possibility of receiving state aid with a link to a phishing site.

Law enforcement officers exposed 3 distributors of a phishing site"

<p>Law enforcement officers exposed an organized group that deceived people through a phishing site under the guise of receiving aid from the state, the Prosecutor General's Office reports. </p>
<p>According to the investigation, in April 2024, a resident of Oleksandria, Kirovohrad Oblast, developed a fake social assistance registration website called “help”. He recruited his friend, a previously convicted resident of Rivne Oblast, into the “scheme”. </p>
<p>The plan was to distribute advertisements on Facebook and Google regarding the alleged possibility of registering for state assistance. When people clicked on this advertisement, they were redirected to a fraudulent website. </p>
<p>Trusting citizens entered personal registration data containing banking secrets, supposedly necessary for receiving social financial assistance. This information was automatically displayed and became available to the defendants in a pre-prepared Telegram bot. </p>
<p>Then the “work” was carried out by a third participant – a 16-year-old resident of the Ternopil region, attracted to the criminal plan by the organizer. He played the role of a “beaver” – using the bot data, he carried out unauthorized authorization in the online banking of the victims and transferred funds to accounts controlled by the group members. </p>
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For Vodafone and Life subscribers, the “money back” function was disabled due to manipulations with a thousand “Support” Law enforcement officers carried out a number of investigative actions, which confirmed the facts of crimes committed by members of an organized group. During the searches, mobile phones, bank cards and other material evidence were seized. It was established that the victims were mainly residents of the Donetsk and Kharkov regions. The total amount of damage is being determined.

The issue of choosing measures in the form of detention for the suspect is being decided.

The identification of other members of the criminal group and victims of their actions is also ongoing.