As the Russia-Ukraine war is still ongoing, fraudsters are taking advantage of the crisis to steal money from those seeking to help Ukrainian refugees and war victims, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned.
FBI said it observed fraudulent schemes where cyber criminals impersonated Ukrainian entities needing humanitarian aid or developing fundraising efforts, including monetary and cryptocurrency donations.
“Scammers similarly have used past crises as opportunities to target members of the public with fraudulent donation schemes,” the FBI said.
Since the start of the war, the number of scams aimed at taking advantage of people who want to help the Ukrainians has been steadily rising, with bad actors posing as the Ukrainian government, the Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, the Act for Peace, and UNICEF.
The FBI has shared some tips on how to avoid falling victim to such scams:
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Be suspicious of online communications claiming to be individuals affected by the conflict in Ukraine and seeking immediate financial assistance.
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Although the Ukrainian Government and other private organizations do maintain official donation mechanisms, be cautious and verify information about entities purporting to solicit aid for causes linked to the crisis in Ukraine. If an entity asks for donations to specific cryptocurrency addresses, be cautious, always carefully check if the addresses are legitimate, and compare the address alphanumeric characters to any known official addresses.
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Do not communicate with or open texts, emails, attachments, or links from unknown individuals posing as Ukrainian entities in need of humanitarian aid.
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Do not send payments to unknown individuals or organizations asking for financial assistance.
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Best practices to verify charities include, but are not limited to, researching the charity online to see if there are news, reviews, or posts linking the charity to fraud; checking to see if the charity is registered with your state’s charity regulator, if available; and checking the Internal Revenue Service’s website to see if the charity is registered.
Earlier this month, researchers warned of a new malicious campaign that is targeting internet users in Germany, which are seeking updates about the current situation in Ukraine, with a fake document delivering a custom version of the PowerShell remote access trojan (RAT), capable of stealing data and executing other malicious commands on a victim’s computer.
Cybersecurity Help statement on the critical situation in Ukraine
On February 24, people in many cities and towns across Ukraine woke up to the sounds of explosions and artillery fire, as the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of the country. Such actions are unacceptable, political ambitions of any man aren’t worth of blood, tears, and destruction of millions of lives. We give our full support to the Ukrainian people in these hard times. No more war! Слава Україні!