Fighting Credit Fraud in Uzbekistan: An Uphill Battle Against Social Engineering

This report analyzes a sharp rise in credit fraud in Uzbekistan, detailing schemes where criminals (including complicit bank insiders and social-engineering operators) use phishing, impersonation, SMS-stealer malware and fake apps to take out microloans in victims' names; it quantifies impact, explains systemic vulnerabilities (weak verification, low consumer data awareness), and summarizes technical, legal, and user-focused mitigations introduced by banks and the Central Bank of Uzbekistan.