United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) joins the information campaign against the most popular fraud types, jeopardizing online users and aiming to obtain their sensitive data. The campaign, organized by Europol, the European Banking Federation and private and public sector partner organizations, is part of the European Cybersecurity Month.

The Association of Banks in Bulgaria and its members are participating in the campaign by publishing and distributing among the bank customers animated and video materials containing information about the most common types of online fraud and tips on how to protect themselves. The most popular types of fraud identified by Europol to which the citizens could become victims, are as follows:

CEO fraud: scammers pretend to be a CEO or a senior representative in the organization and trick the victim into paying a fake invoice or making an unauthorized transfer out of the business account.

Invoice fraud: they pretend to be one of the clients/suppliers of the user and trick them into paying future invoices into a different bank account controlled by them.

Phishing/Smishing/Vishing: they call the users, send them a text message or an email to trick them into sharing their personal, financial or security information which could be used afterwards for criminal purposes.

Spoofed bank website fraud: they use bank phishing emails with a link to the spoofed website. Once the user clicks on the link, various methods are used to collect their financial and personal information for misuse. The site will look like its legitimate counterpart, with small differences.

Romance scam: they pretend to be interested in a romantic relationship. It commonly takes place on online dating websites, but scammers often use social media or email to make contact in order to obtain money and/or data and/or for extortion purposes.

Personal data theft: they harvest your personal information via social media channels. Data can help criminals get access to bank accounts, obtain credit, or engage in another illegal activity on behalf of the victim.

Investment and online shopping scams: they make you think you are on a smart investmen or present you with a great fake online offer.

The Internet has become very attractive to cybercriminals, who adapt quickly to changing consumer habits and the Internet environment provides new opportunities for fraud. The criminals use sophisticated tricks, tempting promises and offers to get money or valuable financial information from unsuspecting individuals. The tactics used by cyber criminals are becoming increasingly innovative, complex and difficult to detect. They do not miss to take advantage of the fact that more and more people prefer to make their purchases through mobile applications. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated these processes and made electronic channels an increasingly preferred method of consuming goods and services.

Social engineering continues to grow as the engine of many cybercrimes, with phishing being the most frequent means of doing it. Criminals use social engineering to achieve a number of goals: to obtain personal data, to operate with foreign bank accounts, to steal identity and for other illegal activities. The most effective protection against social engineering is raising awareness and training of Internet users about how to protect themselves from cyberattacks.

ABB and its members are committed to making efforts to raise public awareness of the identification of such fraudulent techniques while operating in the Internet environment and strive to support the work of all relevant institutions and organizations to protect individuals from becoming victims of financial and other crimes.

More information about the most frequent cyber fraud types is also available on the  UBB’s YouTube Channel UBB Online Security Awareness Platform – CyberStudy.