ProCredit Bank Becomes a Partner of the #ShahraiGoodbye Payment Security Campaign Run by the National Bank

On 14 February 2022, the National Bank is launching the All-Ukrainian Payment Security Campaign, called #ShahraiGoodbye. It will be a continuation of the first campaign on the subject, which was successfully launched in 2020. Its aim is to raise public awareness about cyber hygiene and promote a culture of safe behaviour in cyberspace, as well as to remind the public about the basic rules of non-cash payment security.

The issue of cybersecurity and payment fraud remains relevant worldwide and Ukraine is no exception. In particular, the National Bank notes an increase in fraudulent activity last year.

“Talking about the level of losses incurred due to payment card fraud in total, it should be noted that it remained relatively low. Last year, out of one million Ukrainian hryvnias of debit transactions with the use of payment cards for illegal actions or suspicious transactions, there were losses of 65 hryvnias. It’s not a lot, but more than in 2020, when the amount was 48 hryvnias,” the Deputy Head of the National Bank, Oleksii Shaban, explained. “That’s why we believe that it’s necessary to remind our citizens about the rules of secure online payments and behaviour in cyberspace. After all, the main weapon against fraudsters today is awareness.”

As is the case worldwide, the most popular method of payment card fraud in Ukraine remains social engineering, through which people themselves transfer money to scammers or disclose their card data.

Andrii Podderiohin, Director of the Payment Systems and Innovative Development Department of the National Bank, said that on the one hand, the National Bank sees a continuation of the positive trend of replacing purely magnetic stripe payment cards with more secure chip cards. This change has affected, in particular, the volume of fraudulent schemes in the channels where physical cards are used – retail chains and ATMs. Consequently, per one million hryvnias of debit transactions with the use of payment cards, the losses from fraudulent activity in the retail network decreased from UAH 61 (in 2020) to UAH 40 (in 2021), and in ATMs from UAH 33 (in 2020) to UAH 29 (in 2021).

Last year, the average volume of fraudulent transactions in the retail network also decreased by almost 45%, from UAH 1,984 (in 2020) to UAH 1,086 (in 2021). On average, in 2021 one illegal transaction accounted for about UAH 1,600, which is 16% less than in 2020 (UAH 1,900).

“At the same time, we observe that per one million Ukrainian hryvnias of online debit transactions with the use of payment cards, the losses increased from UAH 61 (in 2020) to UAH 114 (in 2021),” Andrii Podderiohin stressed. “If we compare Ukraine and Europe, the indicator of relative losses from the total volume of payment card transactions remains much lower. In Ukraine, it is 0.0065% (i.e. 65 hryvnias of losses per one million hryvnias), and in the EU countries, according to the European Central Bank, this figure is several times higher and reached 0.036% in 2019 (i.e. 360 ​​euros of losses per million euros). In fact, Internet fraud is a global trend. And in most cases, people fall victim to fraud due to the failure to adhere to the basic rules of payment security.”

In 2021, Ukrainians more often chose non-cash payments and online purchases, which was due to both the continuation of quarantine restrictions and changes in the habits of payment card users. This has motivated fraudsters, who never stop trying to swindle citizens, in particular in cyberspace.

“Ensuring a high level of cybersecurity in the financial sector is one of the main goals of the National Bank. We take a comprehensive approach to addressing this issue, regulating key aspects of cybersecurity, increasing the potential of the National Bank’s Cybersecurity Centre, and upgrading the skills of employees working at cybersecurity units of Ukrainian banks,” the Deputy Head of the NBU Cybersecurity Centre, Roman Proskurovskyi, said. “Moreover, the issue of raising cyber awareness and safe behaviour in cyberspace among citizens and clients of financial institutions is also very important to us. In particular, reliable password protection for accounts. Especially the ones linked to financial phone numbers, since it is the main method of interaction between financial institutions and their customers. In fact, it is the customer’s identifier, which allows citizens to get access and manage their funds. Therefore, it is important to follow the rules for the safe use of financial phone numbers.”

An important part of ​​the campaign will be to explain the simple rules to follow when conducting activities online, particularly those related to financial matters – it is desirable to have another phone number to interact with financial institutions: you should register and “link” it to your passport data, carefully monitor where the information about the financial number is located, watch your mobile phone and do not leave it unattended.

“In 2021, the cyber police managed to record criminal activities and take over 2,000 criminal proceedings related to Internet fraud to court; 422 criminals were involved in these crimes. More than 6,600 proceedings are also still pending. In addition, online fraudulent activities account for almost 70% of all appeals to the cyber police. The most common fraudulent schemes in 2021 were: the sale of non-existent goods, pseudo-money, phone fraud, phishing attempts aiming to embezzle money or collect personal data, money misappropriation under the pretext of surplus profits, and asking friends for help on social networks. In total, last year, according to the cases recorded by the National Police, cybercriminals’ scams accounted for over UAH 193 million in losses,” reported Yevhenii Dorohanov, Head of the Computer Systems Crimes Unit of the Cyber Police Department.

“ProCredit Bank makes sure that its customers feel confident and safe despite numerous changes in the economic climate and the development of digital technologies. To ensure the highest level of security and compliance with regulatory requirements, ProCredit Bank is serviced by an IT company owned by the ProCredit group. This allows us to create tools and software that are in demand among customers while maintaining high standards of security internationally. We understand that security partially depends on the cyber awareness of our customers. We know for sure that the joint efforts of financial institutions as part of the #ShahraiGoodbye Payment Security Campaign run by the National Bank will make cyberspace fraud impossible,” noted Viktor Ponomarenko, Chairman of the ProCredit Bank Board.

The information campaign will last for the next three months in all regions of Ukraine. As part of the campaign, the National Bank and its partners will inform citizens on how to avoid payment fraud, in particular through updates to the website (landing page), #ShahraiGoodbye, with detailed information about the campaign and rules for safe behaviour in cyberspace.

For reference

The National Bank is running the All-Ukrainian #ShahraiGoodbye Payment Security Information Campaign along with the Cyberpolice Department of the National Police of Ukraine, as well as with the support of:

• International Finance Corporation (IFC) in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the UK Good Governance Fund

• Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

General partners: EMA, Mastercard, OLX.ua, Lifecell, VAFK, PROSTIR, YASNO – supplier of electricity, gas and energy efficiency solutions, BlaBlaCar, Nova Poshta.

Information partners: PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, Raiffeisen Bank, Ukrgasbank, Alfa-Bank, FUIB, Ukrsibbank, OTP Bank, Universal Bank, International Reserve Bank, Credit Agricole Bank, Kredobank, ProCredit Bank, Tascombank, Kredyt Dnipro Bank, Vostok Bank, A-Bank, Accordbank, MTB Bank, Alliance Bank, Megabank, Idea Bank, Pravex Bank, Globus Bank, Commercial Industrial Bank, Sich Bank, Lviv Bank, International Investment Bank, Industrialbank, Radabank, RwS Bank, Crystalbank, Klirynhovyi Dim Bank, Investment and Savings Bank, Concord Bank, Crystalbank, Poltava Bank, First Investment Bank, UkrBudInvestBank, Forward Bank, Motor Bank, Grant Bank, Agroprosperis Bank, Unex Bank, Ukrainian Capital Bank, Asvio Bank, European Industrial Bank, Policombank, Ukrainian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, BTA Bank, Trust-Capital Bank, Portal Bank, Visa, Kyivstar, VSAD IT-Babusi NGO, Foxtrot, Shell, Osvitoria, Ukrposhta, Aroma Kava, Pension Fund of Ukraine, State Employment Service, Cherkasy Regional State Administration, Sumy Regional State Administration, Vinnytsia Regional State Administration, Zhytomyr Regional State Administration, Mykolayiv Regional State Administration, Odessa Regional State Administration, Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, Kherson Regional State Administration, Kirovohrad Regional State Administration, Poltava Regional State Administration, Volyn Regional State Administration, Ternopil Regional State Administration, Lviv Regional State Administration.

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