Parliament strengthened liability for fraudulent call centers — law adopted in full

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine supported strengthening liability for electronic communications fraud and the activities of fraudulent call centers. The relevant Law No. 10190 was adopted in its entirety on September 16, the parliament’s press service reports, according to UNN.

Details

The law was supported by 313 Members of Parliament. This legal act provides for supplementing the Criminal Code of Ukraine with new articles establishing liability for the unlawful collection, storage, and use of personal data, bank secrecy, and payment instrument details for the purpose of misappropriating another person’s property.

The current Article 190, “Fraud,” of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (hereinafter, the Criminal Code of Ukraine) does not correspond to the modern realities of legal regulation, does not enable the effective implementation of the prevention function, and contains outdated concepts, such as “electronic computing equipment,” which partially makes it impossible for law enforcement agencies to prove such offenses

In addition, this law introduces a formal definition of the elements of a crime to effectively counter systemic schemes, including “financial pyramids.”

According to the explanatory note, the law provides for amending the Criminal Code of Ukraine by supplementing it with a new Article 1901, “Electronic Communications Fraud,” which establishes liability for electronic communications fraud, that is, the unlawful collection, storage, processing, and use of personal data and information containing bank secrecy, including individual account information, payment instrument details, payment card details, and an authorization code, for the purpose of misappropriating another person’s property or acquiring rights to property through deception or abuse of trust using electronic communications and/or technical means of electronic communications.

The Criminal Code of Ukraine is also supplemented with new articles:

• Article 2554 (“Establishment and management of an electronic communications fraud organization, as well as participation in it”);
• Article 2555, “Recruitment to participate in an electronic communications fraud organization,” establishing new liability for the actions of such fraudulent organizations and participation in them.

Reminder

The Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis Draft Law No. 16013 to strengthen the protection of citizens’ bank accounts against cyberfraud. The document provides for criminal liability for transferring cards and access to accounts.