Scammers Have Been Leveraging The Current Situation in Ukraine To Their Advantage

It’s gratifying to watch individuals band together in times of distress to support others who are suffering, a reminder that there’s more good in the world than we might imagine. 

However, for every group of people trying to make a difference by doing good deeds, there is another group of people trying to make a difference by doing bad deeds, and the only thing they want is your money – and if they can make a profit while doing so, they won’t hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity, which has resulted in a slew of new Ukraine charity phishing scams. It’s regrettable that catastrophes like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can result in an increase in cybercrime like phishing, but it’s an unpleasant reality. 

Scammers immediately began preying on sympathetic individuals, as they do whenever there is a catastrophe. Russian cybercriminals are also set to work right away. Since their campaign on Ukraine began, phishing attacks from Russia-based sources have increased eight-fold. Suspected Russian threat actors also phished EU members working in Ukraine using a stolen authentic Ukrainian military email address. 

Bad actors are well aware that difficult times provide ideal conditions for social engineering, with a plethora of potential victims. Because people are already restless, the bad guys just need to push a little to get their targets where they want them. 

COVID-19-themed phishing scams flooded inboxes from the start of the epidemic, employing phony COVID-19 monitoring maps, fraudulent government warnings, bogus workplace policy changes, and other frauds to phish for credentials and transmit malware like ransomware. Another large wave of scams was unleashed by the Omicron variant, with email phishing exploiting even more ghastly lures, including phony layoff or termination warnings, malicious exposure notices, and even fake information regarding funeral expenses aid. Now the scammers are back at it, and a charity phishing scam from Ukraine is guaranteed to hit your inbox shortly. 

Make no mistake: these types of scams are just as dangerous for businesses as they are for consumers. Employees are increasingly using work gadgets for personal activities, such as charitable donations, as the barriers between work and personal devices become increasingly blurred. Furthermore, with millions of people working from home throughout the world, fraudsters will be eager to take benefit of the fact that remote employees are more vulnerable to phishing than office workers. Overall, this is an ideal chance for thieves to engage in phishing. 

Chargeback firms, such as Payback LTD, can, fortunately, assist in these situations. Read the Payback LTD reviews if you want to learn more about them.