Fraudulent Scheme and Illegal Money Transfers from Teachers’ Accounts
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, September 17
Around 80 people, most of them teachers, have addressed the police after noticing illegal money transfers from their bank accounts. All the cases took place this summer. The information was released by Georgian media outlet Netgazeti.
The victims of a fraudulent scheme have their accounts in three major banks of the country: TBC, Bank of Georgia and Liberty Bank. They say their money was transferred to gambling websites however they are unaware how their personal data were obtained by swindlers.
The affected people also impose responsibility on banks, saying they should better protect their clients’ accounts from fraud.
TBC bank has released a statement regarding the issue, saying the money transfers were carried out after using the card data of the customers.
“Fraudulent internet sites offered cheap mobile packages to people and cardholders indicated their card data to purchase this service, after which their data was in the hands of the swindlers,” the bank says, adding it is not their fault if their clients gave their personal data to swindling websites.
The company claims that TBC users are often warned about potential threats. According to TBC's statement, on May 29 of this year, the Internet bank sent a warning letter to its users about cybersecurity and its norms.
"The Bank actively cooperates with the police, and systematically provides them with new circumstances,” reads the statement.
Some of the affected teachers applied to the non-governmental organization Teachers' Coordination Center for help. The Head of the NGO, Davit Peradze says in total he was contacted by 80 people with similar problems.
According to him, illegal transactions start from 50 GEL and go up to even 2500 GEL. Peradze says the teachers have individually applied to the police but he does not exclude that these people might file a joint lawsuit with the court against their banks.
The investigation into the case is underway and the police have questioned the victims, the bank representatives and the gambling companies, however, it is unknown yet who stands behind this fraudulent scheme.
