According to data published by Finance Latvia Association, in the eleven months of 2023 clients of four biggest Latvian banks have lost a total of EUR 11.254 million to various scams.
In the eleven months of 2023 there were 7 163 scam cases registered by the association.
At the same time, 12 255 scam attempts were prevented. This helped keep EUR 8.479 million safe.
In 2023 Latvian banks found 2 841 telephone scam attempts, which resulted in EUR 4 725 465 being stolen from residents. 3 396 investment scam cases were found as well – EUR 5 149 316 was stolen from residents. There were also 926 other scam types, which resulted in EUR 1 379 692 being stolen from residents.
At the same time, it was possible to prevent 4 976 telephone scam attempts, 6 730 investment scam attempts and 529 804 other scam attempts.
In November alone scammers managed to steal EUR 1.61 million from clients of the four biggest banks in Latvia.
Last year clients of the four biggest banks in Latvia lost a total of EUR 12.037 million to various scams, which is 8.8% more than in 2021. Last year there were 5 354 scam cases, which is 2.1% more than in 2021, when 5 246 scam cases were observed.
In 2022 four biggest Latvian banks found 2 226 telephone scam cases, which stole EUR 2.961 million from bank clients. There were also 1 987 investment scam cases, which stole EUR 2.961 million from residents, and 1 141 other kinds of scams, which stole EUR 3.872 million from residents.
Compared to 2021 the number of telephone scam cases went down by 30% last year. The amount of money scammed from residents this way went down by 40.2%. The number of investment scams went up by 55.1% last year. The amount of money scammed from residents went up by 14.5%. The number of other types of scams went up by 45.4%, and the amount of money scammed from residents went up 2.4 times.
The biggest banks in Latvia asset-wise are Swedbank, followed by SEB bank, Citadele Bank and Luminor Bank.
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