The District Prosecutor’s Office in Debrecen has brought charges against the Ukrainian man who harmed internet advertisers, and who used bank card data obtained through phishing to withdraw money from ATMs in Debrecen.
According to the essence of the indictment, the Ukrainian man moved to the Czech Republic with his family in February 2022. It was there that he met the Ukrainian man, who applied for advertisements posted on social media and various Internet sites but only pretended to buy. In fact, he sent advertisers a phishing letter referring to the handling of the delivery, which directed the advertisers to a website similar to that of a courier service or bank. Among other things, they provided their bank card details, which the perpetrators misused by feeding them into the payment accounts of mobile phones and withdrawing cash from the victims’ accounts contactless from ATMs using the phones.
The Ukrainian man offered a job to the accused, whose task was to travel to Debrecen for a week and upload the bank card data obtained by the perpetrators and forwarded to him on the received mobile phones, and then withdraw different amounts of money from ATMs. The defendant kept 10% of the withdrawn amounts as payment and had to pay the remaining 90% into a virtual currency machine.
Between August 13 and August 16, 2023, the man withdrew a total of more than five million forints from various ATMs in Debrecen using the bank card data of 40 victims over the course of four days. The perpetrator also tried to withdraw a total of one and a half million forints with the card data of eight other victims, which failed.
Several victims complained to the bank that operated the machines. During the investigation of the cases, their employees recognized the accused and notified the police, who apprehended and detained the man at one of the vending machines.
The accused is under arrest, and the responsibility of two additional persons is being investigated in separate criminal proceedings.
The Debrecen District Prosecutor’s Office accuses the man who confessed to the crime of 40 counts of fraud committed using an information system and money laundering. The indictment contains, as a moderate motion, that the Debrecen District Court should sentence the accused to 2 years in prison, expel him from the territory of Hungary for 5 years, order the confiscation of his property, and confiscate the mobile phones used in the commission of the crime.
(ugyeszseg.hu)
