How Ukrainians' financial behaviour is changing: what scammers may exploit

During prolonged air raid alerts and power outages, Ukrainians are increasingly using banking apps on their smartphones, switching to mobile internet and responding more quickly to messages. This creates additional opportunities for social engineering attacks.

This opinion was expressed by Anna Dovhalska, Deputy Chairperson of the Management Board of GLOBUS BANK.

According to her, haste remains one of scammers' key allies. If someone is in a shelter, looking for information about electricity supply, trying to pay for essential services or dealing with an everyday financial matter after a sleepless night, they may pay less attention to a website address, the name of a Telegram bot or the content of a message.

Fake banking chatbots pose a particular risk. Scammers may create accounts with names and designs that closely resemble the official services of financial institutions.

That is why the banker advises customers not to search for a bank's chatbot directly in a messaging app, but to access it exclusively through the bank's official website or official page.

“No alarming news should prompt anyone to transfer money immediately or share their banking details. Taking a few minutes to verify the information is very often precisely the barrier that makes a fraud scheme fall apart,” Anna Dovhalska emphasised.