Series of Financial Frauds in Poland: Police Bust Gangs, Banks Announce Service Outages

The final days of February 2026 have brought a sharp escalation in the activities of criminal groups using advanced social engineering to steal savings. Officers from Garwolina have filed an indictment against fraudsters offering fictitious investments in shares of fuel companies, and in Warsaw, a group posing as waterworks employees, which robbed seniors under the pretext of water quality checks, was busted. Losses are counted in millions of zlotys, as confirmed by reports from Bielsko, Białystok, or the Lublin region, where individual victims lost even hundreds of thousands of zlotys at once. In 2025, Polish services seized assets worth nearly 78 million zlotys from cybercriminals, indicating the progressing professionalization of the black market for financial services in the region. Parallel to police actions, the largest Polish banks issued urgent notices about planned technical outages. Customers of PKO BP, ING Bank Śląski, and Bank Pekao S.A. must prepare for temporary lack of access to electronic banking, card payments, and ATM withdrawals over the upcoming weekend. Institutions appeal for stocking up on cash in advance, although some alternative payment methods, like the BLIK system, may remain available longer than traditional payment cards. Cybersecurity experts warn about new variants of phishing campaigns. Criminals are sending fake SMS messages about traffic fines, road tolls, or alleged account blocks for Netflix and Revolut. The tax settlement period is particularly dangerous, exploited by fraudsters impersonating the e-PIT service in the e-Tax Office. In response to these threats, the Lower Silesian Police inaugurated the "Senior with a 6+" program, aimed at educating seniors, who are most often victims of the "policeman scam" or "accident scam." „Pamiętajmy, że policjanci nigdy nie proszą o przekazanie pieniędzy ani nie informują telefonicznie o szczegółach prowadzonych działań operacyjnych.” (Remember that police officers never ask for money transfers nor inform by phone about details of ongoing operational actions.) — Police Statement