Cyber police prevented the theft of more than $720,000 from a medical company account
The defendants forged payment orders and tried to seize money intended for the purchase of medical equipment for the examination of patients with COVID-19. Criminal proceedings have been opened on the fact of fraud.
The Department of Cyberpolice was contacted by a medical company that reported a fraudulent seizure of money intended to purchase medical equipment to screen COVID-19 patients.
Law enforcement found that the attackers sent a phishing link to partners of the affected company. With the help of phishing, offenders received data to enter the e-mail box. Then they forged a payment order, which was sent from the hacked email box of partners from the People's Republic of China. Therefore, the Ukrainian medical company transferred the money to a fraudster account opened in the UK. In this way, those involved tried to appropriate more than 723 thousand US dollars.
Cyberpolice officers, together with the investigators of the Kiev police, as well as in cooperation with the law enforcement officers of the United Kingdom, blocked the money stolen from the company's account.
According to this fact, criminal proceedings were opened under Part 3 of Art. 190 (Fraud) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Offenders can face up to eight years in prison. Investigative actions continue.
Cyberpolice reminds of the importance of compliance with the rules of cyber hygiene:
- do not follow suspicious links;
- carefully check the URL of the required site, because one extra character may mean that you have come to a phishing site;
- give preference to services with two-factor authentication;
- use reliable, complex passwords. To create passwords, you can use the cyber police password generation service;
- in case of doubt about the compromise of the account, immediately change the password.
Remember: your email inbox is the universal key to online accounts. If it is hacked, you will lose control of all your accounts.
Cyber Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine
