The video report spreading online is fake, and the story about the Ukrainian scammers is itself made up. The Times of Israel did not publish such information on its website or its social networks.
Some social media users are sharing a video clip of the Israeli news site The Times of Israel that phone scammers from Ukraine are allegedly robbing Israelis. The story claims that since October 8, Israeli residents allegedly began receiving mass calls from “banks” claiming that the bank’s office had been attacked by Hamas and that they urgently needed to provide their card details in order to “transfer money to a safe place.” The police investigation allegedly showed that the money was transferred to Ukraine, where the scammers worked from.
This information is not true. The purpose of this fake is to discredit Ukraine and Ukrainians in the eyes of the global community.
The video that is spreading online imitates the style of the Israeli publication The Times of Israel. In the left corner of the video you can even see the company’s logo. However, there is no such report on the official website or social networks of the Israeli media company. Certain design elements of this video also reveal it to be fake. The Times of Israel does not use the font shown in the video. Moreover, the source publishes some of its videos without the logo of the media company and any inscriptions.
And finally, the fact that no credible sources, including the local Israeli media, reported on similar incidents of fraud by Ukrainians indicates that this story is completely made up.
It is not the first time that the Kremlin propaganda has tried to use the conflict in the Middle East to discredit Ukraine. For instance, earlier propagandists spread disinformation that Ukraine allegedly used the grain agreement to smuggle Western weapons to the Middle East.
