AI-driven fraud scales in Ukraine with deepfake calls and phishing

What happened

Fraudsters in Ukraine have begun using AI to scale existing scam schemes including phishing, fake bank calls, pseudo-fundraising and social engineering attacks. AI makes messages more convincing, calls more realistic and attacks significantly faster, according to Globus Bank's deputy head.

Criminals use publicly available data from social media, messaging apps and professional profiles to personalize attacks, mentioning targets' workplace, supervisor's name, recent trips or services they use. Over 80% of current phishing messages show signs of AI use, and fraudsters have begun deploying deepfake technology to clone voices and videos of real people.

Reported impact

In 2025, the number of fraudulent payment card operations fell 5% to 256,000 cases, but total losses rose nearly 25% to 1.4 billion hryvnia, with average loss per unauthorized operation increasing 30% to 5,536 hryvnia. The National Bank of Ukraine reported 83% of fraud cases occurred online and 90% of losses were linked to social engineering.

Common schemes include calls and messages impersonating banks, mobile operators or government agencies threatening account suspension or demanding urgent payment. In simpler cases, people receive calls posing as relatives requesting urgent money transfers; in more complex schemes, fraudsters impersonate company executives demanding immediate payment.

Classification

Organizations

Globus Bank (victim), National Bank of Ukraine (mentioned)

Category

Fraud, scams and manipulation

Industry

Financial and insurance services

Country

Ukraine

Harm status

Actual harm

Intent

Intentional

Timing

Unknown

Harm types

Economic or property

Harmed

Consumers

Failure modes

Voice clone

AI systems

AI-generated phishing content, AI voice synthesis/cloning technology

Sources and evidence