Central Bank Chairman: Over 400 Cases of Bank Fraud Recorded in Armenia in Q1

YEREVAN, June 11. /ARKA/. In the first quarter of this year, 408 cases of fraud were recorded in the banking system of Armenia, and their number is decreasing, said Martin Galstyan, Chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic, explaining that this figure may be inaccurate, since there are no applications for some cases to law enforcement agencies yet.

“With our support, banks have taken certain measures,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday, answering a question from the ARKA news agency.

Galstyan noted that the regulator tried to study all the cases, after which the information was summarized.

“Based on this, if it turned out or was assumed that the bank was at fault (for example, if a contact center employee did not respond within three hours or it was a bug in the product design that a fraudster took advantage of), the bank immediately returned the money to the victims without discussion,” he noted.

Speaking about the types of fraud, the head of the regulator indicated that the attackers, through deception or phishing, gained access to data and, on behalf of another person, issued loans or took possession of funds in a bank account.

"A new type of fraud has appeared now: for example, they call you and introduce themselves as employees of a mobile operator or service provider, they say: "We want to improve your 5G network, speed up your Internet, you will now receive a message on your phone, please follow the link." You click, they receive a code, gain access to your banking applications, and here no one can prevent anything," he said.

Regarding cases of theft of funds from accounts, Galstyan said that things are more complicated there, discussions are currently underway and, perhaps, a consensus will be reached in the near future.