Losses due to financial fraud up 73% in Ukraine in 2023 - NBU

MOSCOW. April 3 (Interfax) - Payment service providers, sellers and clients sustained 833 million hryvni in losses due to illegitimate card payments in 2023, marking a 73% increase from the previous year, Ukrainian media said, citing the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

The number of financial fraud incidents increased by a quarter to 272,000 in 2023, the NBU said.

The average amount of one illegal transaction in 2023 was 3,065 hryvni, up from 2,200 hryvni in 2022, it said.

The number of active credit and debit cards increased 13% in 2023, a development the NBU believes indicates a more active usage of payment cards for transactions.

Losses sustained by postal operators and non-bank financial institutions with the right to issue or acquire electronic payment instruments accounted for 0.4% of the total amount of losses and for 0.2% of all fraudulent card transactions in 2023, the NBU said.

Card fraud most often occurred online, accounting for 83% of all cases, the NBU said. Meanwhile, only 17% involved physical devices, such as ATMs and self-checkout machines.

The average amount of one illegal transaction online rose 31% to 3,150 hryvni in 2023 compared to 2,408 hryvni in 2022.

The vast majority of cases were enabled by clients' disclosure of their personal information, the NBU said. Social engineering was behind 80% of all such losses in 2023. The figure for 2022 was 53%.