Fraudsters exposed in Transcarpathia who "fed" ATMs with souvenir money and stole almost 2 million UAH
Six residents of Mukachevo discovered a vulnerability in the software of bank terminals and replenished their accounts with fake souvenir money.
Six residents of Mukachevo discovered a vulnerability in the software of bank terminals and replenished their accounts with fake souvenir money.
As reported by the Khust District Prosecutor’s Office, during March 2026, the attackers managed to carry out dozens of transactions in Mukachevo, Svaliava and Khust, causing the bank losses of UAH 1.93 million. According to the investigation, a group of four men and two women used specially made imitations of banknotes in denominations of 200, 500 and 1000 hryvnias. The technical characteristics of these «souvenirs» allowed them to mislead cash recognition systems in ATMs.
The scheme worked as follows: the suspects deposited counterfeits through terminals, after which the digital funds were instantly credited to the accounts. Then the accomplices quickly withdrew real cash from other ATMs or transferred the money to different cards for further withdrawal. For one deposit, they deposited from 30,000 to 200,000 hryvnias into the account.
During the searches, law enforcement officers seized bank cards and mobile phones. The organizers are charged with fraud on an especially large scale using electronic and computer technology (Parts 4, 5 of Article 190, Part 2 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The five perpetrators were given a preventive measure in the form of detention with the possibility of posting bail of up to UAH 2 million.
Cyber police and bank technicians are currently investigating how the souvenirs were able to pass the terminal’s sensors. The bank assured that they have already covered up the vulnerability after updating the software and strengthening the banknote verification mechanisms.
Previously, the National Police of Ukraine detained a group of fraudsters in the Dnipro region — they disguised themselves as employees of mobile operators in order to reissue SIM cards to access other people’s bank accounts.
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