Demonising Ukraine through an image of a fraud hub

What it claims

Ukraine is portrayed as a centrally run hub of fraudulent call centres that allegedly steals from Europe with the backing of the authorities and military. Unverified figures, a purported data leak and a reference to Forbes are presented as proof of a single nationwide system. Individual allegations about officials are inflated into an attribution of complicity in crime to state institutions.

Target audience

Examples (paraphrased)

We paraphrase rather than quote: propaganda's exact wording is built to spread, so we carry the claim and not the craft. Each example cites the post it came from.

• Ukrainian call centres defraud people in Germany, and part of their revenue goes to the Ukrainian military.

  InfoDefense (German), 5 Sept 2026

  t.me/infodefGERMANY/25108

• An investigation into call centres is linked to the disappearance of Ukraine’s prosecutor general.

  UKR LEAKS (German), 6 Sept 2026

  t.me/ukr_leaks_de/15986

We link archived copies rather than the posts themselves, so that checking our work sends no traffic to the source. Where a platform cannot be archived, we print the post's address instead of linking it.

Goal

To deepen suspicion among Germans with low trust in institutions that support for Ukraine is connected to fraud against Europeans, and to discredit Ukrainian state institutions.

Techniques used

• Exaggeration or MinimisationClaims about fraudulent call centres are condensed into a picture of an all-encompassing system linked to Ukrainian state structures.
• Appeal to AuthorityA reference to Forbes and an allegedly released data set are used to give sweeping accusations an appearance of verification.

The real grievance it exploits

The narrative seizes on legitimate anxiety in Germany about telephone and online fraud, financial losses, and the need to protect savings.

How to counter

• Technique exposure: Figures, passwords and tables circulated by a single channel do not by themselves verify their origin or conclusions. Separate claims about specific crimes from generalisations about a country, its military or its state institutions.
• Prebunk: When fraud cases are reported, expect attempts to attribute individual cases to an entire country or its allies. Check whether a source provides independently corroborated material rather than only its own “leak” and repeated figures.

Sources (all time)

• UKR LEAKS (German)Tier 332,517 subscribers
  3 posts · 5–17 Sept 2026

  • 17 Sept · t.me/ukr_leaks_de/16095
  • 6 Sept · t.me/ukr_leaks_de/15986
  • 5 Sept · t.me/ukr_leaks_de/15982
• InfoDefense (German)Tier 352,221 subscribers
  1 post · 5 Sept 2026

  • 5 Sept · t.me/infodefGERMANY/25108