Telephone scammers in Latvia have doubled their income: the damage exceeds 7 million

[Tomcat]

In the four months of this year, fraudsters fraudulently lured a total of 7.081 million euros from customers of the four largest Latvian banks, which is 2.1 times more than it was in the first four months of 2023, according to published data from the Finance Latvia Association.

In total, in the first four months of this year, 5,646 fraud cases were prevented for a total amount of 4.292 million euros.

During this period, 2,104 cases of telephone fraud in the amount of 4,546,462 euros were detected in Latvian banks. Also, 1,135 cases of investment fraud in the amount of 1,904,998 euros and 308 cases of other types of fraud in the amount of 630,027 euros were detected.

Compared to 2023, the number of cases of telephone fraud has tripled, and the amount of stolen money has increased by 3.6 times.

The number of investment fraud cases increased by 12.4%, and the amount increased by 19.7%. Other types of fraud decreased by 11%, and the amount of fraud increased by 7.4%.

At the same time, in the first four months of 2024, 1,850 attempts of telephone fraud in the amount of 1,678,481 euros, 3,485 attempts of investment fraud in the amount of 2,315,357 euros and another 311 cases of other type of fraud in the amount of 297,936 euros were prevented.

Representatives of the Finance Latvia Association note that despite warnings about financial fraud schemes, people continue to fall for the bait. Telephone scammers have become especially active and dangerous, fraudulently luring 4.5 million euros from residents of Latvia, so residents must remain vigilant and critically treat every call and requests to share personal information, because if people voluntarily provided fraudsters with their data or invested in fictitious schemes, then there is little chance of preventing the leakage of money from their accounts.

The association emphasizes that most often scammers rush people, saying that this is very important, trying to cause a sense of anxiety and fear in a potential victim, deceiving that in case of inaction, a person can lose all the money, although in reality the callers themselves are scammers.

Among the types of deception, there are reports of allegedly received parcels, calls allegedly from the State Revenue Service, the police or the security service of some institution.

Potential victims are encouraged to take part, for example, in a fraud investigation that asks them to transfer money to supposedly safe custody.

People are told that they should participate in the investigation in order to catch criminals or protect money.

It is also reported that scammers not only convince victims to transfer money to their bank accounts, but also take advantage of cases where people approve an authentication request without checking the purpose for which it is requested and it turns out that a loan was taken out at their expense or goods were purchased in installments.

Before entering the PIN code in the authentication tools, it is important to familiarize yourself with what action will be performed. This information is indicated, but users often don't pay much attention to it.

 

[Friend]

In the first seven months of this year, customers of the four largest banks in Latvia voluntarily confirmed transactions, as a result of which fraudsters received 10 million euros. Customers of Swedbank, SEB banka, Citadele and Luminor Bank were affected. Although the activity of fraudsters decreased slightly in the summer, experts warn about the need to remain vigilant, as criminals continue to develop new methods of deception.

According to the Financial Latvia Association (FNA), 3,148 cases of telephone fraud were prevented during this period, saving €3.3 million. However, in 3001 cases, the fraudsters turned out to be quite convincing and lured 6.1 million euros from citizens. It is noteworthy that in July, the lowest number of telephone frauds since August last year was recorded - only 268 cases.

Banks are the most effective in protecting customers from fake investment offers – since the beginning of the year, 5,934 fraud attempts have been prevented, saving EUR 3.7 million. However, 1,854 cases were successful for the fraudsters, resulting in losses of €3.1 million.

According to the FNA, in July, the number of successful fraudulent transactions decreased by 6% compared to June and by 42% compared to May. In general, since the beginning of the year, banks have managed to prevent 51% of telephone frauds, 76% of investment frauds and 56% of other types of fraud.

FNA Board Member Jānis Brazovskis noted that the decrease in the number of telephone frauds is a positive trend, indicating that people have become more cautious and aware of their safety. However, he stressed that both individuals and businesses must remain vigilant and continue to learn how to recognize scammers.

FNA recalls that scammers often impersonate representatives of banks, police, post offices or government services, using various methods such as calls, texts and emails to get people to act immediately, creating a sense of anxiety in them.

It is noted that fraudsters have begun to use artificial intelligence, which allows them to imitate the voices of relatives and friends of potential victims. This greatly increases the likelihood that people will fall into the trap. Reinis Pudans, Head of Internal Security Processes at Bite Latvija, spoke about a case when a customer of the company received a call from a fraudster who used his friend's voice to ask for money to solve an alleged problem with the police.