Hungary has set up a working group aimed at stopping cyberattacks and Ukrainian organized crime, writes Magyar Nemzet. Stolen customer data of private individuals has resulted in HUF 8 billion of losses, HUF 1.5 billion of which has so far been recovered.
Gergely Gulyás, the minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office, told press at a Government Info session that Ukrainian organized crime groups are behind 80 percent of bank fraud in the country. He also indicated that even with rapid police and banking cooperation, the chance of recovering all losses is slim, basing his data on a report from Hungary’s national security advisor.
Magyar Nemzet’s “Rapid” podcast also highlighted the issue with Ukrainian cybercrime, as fraudsters can take someone’s entire savings if they simply respond to a strange text message or e-mail. Financial crimes have deprived Hungarian families of HUF 1 billion per year, the host said, adding that one network has already been shut down.
It was also brought up whether or not the Ukrainian government itself is encouraging such crimes.
Cybercrime is on the rise everywhere, not just in Hungary and not just by Ukrainian criminals. Portfolio.hu recently reported on a surge in bank fraud in the U.K., specifically, the government’s efforts to combat so-called “approved” payment fraud, where victims are tricked into transferring their money.
Awareness campaigns and fraud detection technologies have helped to curb the fraud, which first surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial fraud accounts for 41 percent of reported crimes in the U.K., posing a serious risk to the country’s financial stability, according to the country’s banks and regulators.
According to a report out of UK Finance, cited by Portfolio, back in 2024, criminals focused more on so-called remote purchase fraud, often hacking one-time passwords to make fraudulent purchases on e-commerce sites.
The group says that 3.31 million fraud cases were recorded in the U.K. financial sector last year, 12 percent more than in 2023. Meanwhile, given tougher security policies and protection mechanisms, criminals have shifted their focus to lower-value but higher-volume attacks. This resulted in more cases but the same amount of total damage, €1.4 billion.
Another issue is getting people to report fraud. On this front, Portfolio quoted Jim Winters, head of economic crime at U.K.’s Nationwide, the world’s largest building society. His research shows that some 14 percent of U.K. consumers encounter potentially fraudulent emails every day, but 43 percent would not report it if they were a victim or witness of fraud.
Given their often elusive nature in the realm of cyberspace or involving criminals “beyond the reach of our own criminal justice system,” UK Finance emphasizes the need for “proactive prevention.” The threat should be a national security issue, they say, demanding “layers of defence spanning the technology, telecommunications, financial services, and public sectors.
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