Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday that Hungarian families lose around 8 billion forints ($22.5 million) annually to online financial scams, claiming that 80% of the cybercriminal networks behind them are connected to Ukraine.
"Hungarian families lose about 8 billion forints every year due to online financial fraud, and because the government allocates more resources to the police in this area, about 1.5 billion forints ($4.3 million) can be recovered," he told state radio.
"About 80% of these crime groups have Ukrainian connections. They operate from Ukraine and are organized in a mafia-like structure.”
He said Hungarian authorities dismantled an illegal call center based in Ukraine that pretended to be a bank to deceive Hungarian citizens.
Orban warned that if Ukraine joins the EU, these threats will grow. "Everything will become easier for them. They will integrate into the EU system and be treated like other financial service providers. Taking action against them will be far more challenging,” he said.
He also criticized the EU leadership, saying: "Whenever there’s a problem, Brussels takes the opportunity to pull authority away from the member states. They did this during the financial crisis, the migration crisis, COVID, and the energy crisis. Now they’re doing it in wartime.”
"The big question for the coming years is: will Brussels use the Ukraine war to seize even more money and decision-making power from member states?” Orban said.
