Ukrainians in Portugal urge authorities to tackle Russia-linked identity theft

The Ukrainian community in Portugal is raising awareness about a widespread campaign of identity theft targeting Ukrainians that has Russian footprints on it.

The Union of Ukrainians in Portugal has sent an open letter to the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the matter.

It called on the Portuguese government to take action and stamp out the criminal activities that target Ukrainians in the country.

Pavlo Sadokha, UWC Vice-President and President of the UUP, has grounds to believe that these illegal activities are being carried out by Russian operatives.

In January, hundreds of immigrants in Portugal received phone calls in Russian that solicited sensitive information about their bank accounts. UUP subsequently filed a complaint with the National Commission for Data Protection. 

However, the community has yet to receive any feedback or update.

“Many victims of these calls have reported the attempted fraud to the police,” Sadokha said. “Additionally, UUP officially contacted the Data Protection Commission, but, unfortunately, we have not received any information about an official investigation since then.”

Ukrainians in Portugal continue to receive similar calls on a daily basis, with the callers “posing as Portuguese law enforcement officers (speaking in Russian) and naming the person they are speaking to.”

“In our view, the Ukrainian community in Portugal has become a victim of a mass theft of personal data, aimed at committing fraud,” Sadokha said in the open letter.