Clients of the largest Latvian banks gave 5.95 million euros to fraudsters

[Carding]

According to data released by the Financial Industry Association, clients of the four largest banks in Latvia have given away a total of 5.95 million euros to fraudsters in seven months of this year. In all cases, the customers themselves confirmed the payments.
At the same time, 6,602 cases of fraud were prevented in the seven months of this year, totaling 4.961 million euros.

During the seven months of this year, 1,338 cases of telephone fraud were detected in Latvian banks, as a result of which 1,943,129 euros were stolen. There were also 2,011 cases of investment fraud with theft of EUR 3,073,792 and 573 cases of other types of fraud with theft of EUR 932,800.

This year, 2,494 telephone fraud attempts amounting to EUR 1,745,790, 3,848 investment fraud attempts amounting to EUR 2,924,787 and 260 other fraud cases amounting to EUR 290,841 were prevented in seven months.

In July, fraudsters defrauded customers of the four largest banks for a total of 874,800 euros.

Earlier it was reported that clients of the four largest banks in Latvia, who themselves confirmed payments, were deceived by a total of 12.037 million euros last year, which is 8.8% more than in 2021. Last year, there were 5,354 fraud cases, up 2.1% from 5,246 fraud cases in 2021.

In 2022, 2,226 cases of phone fraud were detected in the four largest Latvian banks in the amount of EUR 2.961 million. There were also 1,987 cases of investment fraud with theft of EUR 5.104 million and 1,141 cases of other types of fraud with theft of EUR 3.972 million.

Compared to 2021, the number of phone fraud cases last year decreased by 30%, the amount of fraud decreased by 40.2%. At the same time, the number of cases of investment fraud last year increased by 55.1%, the amount of theft increased by 14.5%, and the number of other types of fraud increased by 45.4%, the amount of theft increased by 2.4 times.

The largest bank in Latvia in terms of assets is Swedbank, followed by SEB banka, Citadele Bank and the Luminor Bank branch in Latvia.

 

[Carding]

In June of this year, the State Police received reports of 48 attempts and 16 phone scams, and in July - 52 attempts and 32 cases where money was actually taken from people.

Statistics show that in most cases people turn to the police for information and do not fall into the trap of scammers. However, unfortunately, many people still lose impressive amounts of money, amounting to thousands and even tens of thousands of euros. Given that the scammers tend to speak Russian, the victims are mostly people who are fluent in Russian, most often between the ages of 45 and 77.

As before, phone scammers most often impersonate police officers and banks, Google representatives and various financial specialists. Callers almost always speak Russian and report problems with the recipient's bank account, suspicious transfers or purchases, and make up other stories. Criminals usually speak quickly and put emotional pressure on the addressee, do not give him time to think and follow their instructions, otherwise threatening bad and irreversible consequences.

Fraudsters ask for bank account passwords, Smart-ID codes, bank card numbers and CVC codes, and disclose personal data. Often asked to install various software on a computer that allows scammers to connect to people's computers to carry out illegal actions.

While these scams are declining and citizens are more aware of them than in the past and are more likely to report attempted scams to the police, high-value scams are still high.

The biggest fraud this month was committed against a resident of Zemgale. On August 11 of this year, the South-Zemgale district of the Zemgale Regional State Police Department received an application from a pensioner, from whom 41,200 euros were taken away in this way. It should be noted that this amount includes both the money accumulated by the victim and the loans she took out following the instructions of the scammers. The woman reported to the police that she received several calls from different numbers, posing as police officers and the bank's special services. Strangers told her that her bank account had been hacked and fraud was being committed. Following the instructions of the scammers, the woman installed the Doctorweb Lite program on her phone, after which money was stolen from her.

On August 8, the State Police received a statement from a resident of Kurzeme that he had been deceived in the amount of about 4,500 euros. The man received a call from a man who did not introduce himself, but spoke about cryptocurrencies and said that his funds were frozen. During the conversation, he gained confidence in the man and forced him to download the AnyDesk application. The man followed the scammer's instructions, confirming his actions with Smart-ID passwords.

On the facts of these frauds criminal cases are raised.

 

[Brother]

Over the 11 months of this year, clients of Latvia's four largest banks were defrauded of a total of €11.254 million by approving payments themselves, according to data published by the Latvian Financial Industry Association.

In just 11 months of 2023, 7,163 cases of fraud were carried out.

At the same time, in 11 months of this year, 12,255 cases of fraud were prevented, totaling 8.479 million euros.

Over the 11 months of this year, 2,841 cases of telephone fraud were detected in Latvian banks, as a result of which 4,725,465 euros were stolen. There were also 3,396 cases of investment fraud amounting to €5,149,316 and 926 other types of fraud amounting to €1,379,692.

At the same time, over the 11 months of this year, 4,976 attempts at telephone fraud were prevented in the amount of 3,185,163 euros, 6,730 attempts at investment fraud in the amount of 4,763,603 euros and 549 other cases of fraud in the amount of 529,804 euros.

In November, fraudsters defrauded clients of four major banks for a total of €1.61 million.

It has already been reported that last year, customers of the four largest banks in Latvia were defrauded through self-confirming payments of a total of 12.037 million euros, which is 8.8% more than in 2021. Last year, there were 5,354 scams, up 2.1% from 5,246 scams in 2021.

In 2022, 2,226 cases of telephone fraud were detected in the four largest banks in Latvia, as a result of which 2.961 million euros were defrauded. Additionally, in 2022, there were 1,987 cases of investment fraud amounting to €5.104 million and 1,141 cases of other types of fraud amounting to €3.972 million.

Compared to 2021, the number of telephone scams last year decreased by 30%, and the number of people deceived decreased by 40.2%. At the same time, the number of cases of investment fraud last year increased by 55.1%, while the amount of fraud increased by 14.5%, and the number of other types of fraud increased by 45.4%, while the amount of fraud increased by 2.4 times .

The largest bank in Latvia by assets is Swedbank, followed by SEB banka, Citadele and the Latvian branch of Luminor Bank.