Prosecutors of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office have sent an indictment to the court in a criminal proceeding against 4 organizers and 10 members of a criminal organization who, by deception, obtained bank card data from citizens of the Czech Republic and withdrew money from them. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General, writes UNN.
Details
The group members were detained as part of a large-scale operation conducted by the joint investigative group "Victory", consisting of law enforcement officers from Ukraine and the Czech Republic, in September 2023.
Members of the criminal organization found advertisements for goods for sale on Czech online platforms "Sbazar", "Bazos", "Vinted" (analogues of "OLX"), corresponded with sellers and agreed to purchase goods with payment through online services. Then, phishing links imitating real online service payment pages were sent to the sellers. After the victims entered their data there, the attackers obtained their bank card data.
The criminal group operated with a clear division of roles, where each participant was responsible for a specific area of work.
Thus, the most numerous lower link – the so-called "workers" – directly searched for advertisements for goods for sale on online platforms and communicated with sellers, and then sent information to the criminal organization's chatbot that they had persuaded a "client" to make an online payment.
Other members of the group generated a phishing link that imitated a real payment system and sent it to the "worker."
If the "worker" failed to deceive the victim, they used the "technical support" function provided by an experienced "worker."
In addition, the accused extorted bank details from victims by sending them links allegedly on behalf of banking institutions for service improvement, etc.
Victims, believing they were providing details to receive payment for their goods, or communicating with bank support services, were actually entering their bank card data on a phishing page.
Having received bank card details, members of the group close to the organizers – "vbibers" – using VPN services that allowed them to simulate the device's presence in the country of the bank card's issuance, transferred the victims' money to accounts controlled by the organizers via online banking.
During the pre-trial investigation and as a result of the exchange of materials within the framework of the joint investigative group "Victory" between the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and the Czech Republic, evidence was collected of the criminal organization members seizing money from 19 citizens of the Czech Republic totaling 1.5 million UAH. They attempted to seize money from 6 more people.
The members of the criminal organization are charged with committing criminal offenses under Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 4 of Article 190 (as amended by Law No. 2617-VIII of 22.11.2018), Part 2 of Article 15, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 4 of Article 190 (as amended by Law No. 2617-VIII of 22.11.2018), Part 4 of Article 28, Part 5 of Article 190, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The sanction of the article provides for punishment of up to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.
The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv with operational support from the Cyberpolice Department of the National Police of Ukraine and assistance from the National Agency for Combating Terrorism, Extremism, and Cybercrime of the Czech Republic Police.