Due to the constant emotional stress, Ukrainians may become more frequent victims of fraud. Rakuten Viber reminds you how to protect yourself and offers a few tips to help you stay vigilant and not fall victim to scams.

What to do with suspicious messages

Prefer information from well-known buyers and official organizations. If you receive a suspicious message from an organization or company, check their profile. Sometimes scammers try to impersonate an organization by impersonating an organization, i.e. using the organization’s logo for a user’s photo and the organization’s name or website address for a profile. This is usually done to get people’s payment information.

How can you check if a scammer is writing to you?

For example, you received a message asking for help from the charity “Helpz Ukraine”. First, pay attention to the official profile tags: for many large organizations on Viber, this is a “blue bird” and an active link to the site.

Blue “bird” confirms the authenticity of the organization / Photo 24 channel

If you do not have a “bird”, look for information about the establishment on the Internet. If this is a real establishment, you will most likely find a link to it on the first page of the search results.

Now compare the buyer’s profile data with the data on the organization’s website. In the case of fraud, you are likely to see inconsistencies.

For secure money transfer, use the coordinates of the accounts on official websites, do not transfer money via a link from a suspicious person. For help, it is better to choose proven funds or people you know personally.

Do not follow suspicious chat links

If there is a message in the group chat about a new way to get financial assistance for immigrants, check the information on third-party resources – government websites and news.

Official aid is usually announced by the government, so register on the official website. However, links from scammers can lead to a form for money transfer, so once you enter your data, the money will be withdrawn from your account and will not be transferred to you.

When you check the site on official sources, carefully examine the name once again before entering your data – even a letter difference can indicate that you have a fraudulent site.

Protect personal data

Do not enter your payment card information (number, card validity period, PIN) and personal data (TIN, passport number) on suspicious links, even if they promise to transfer money. This way you can prevent unwanted deletion and save your data and money from scammers.