A wave of increasingly sophisticated fraud cases has swept through Estonia, and almost 23 million euros have already been swindled from bank accounts this year, writes Estonian media outlet ERR News.
On November 20 alone, people lost close to one million euros. On that day, the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) received more than 40 reports of telephone and Internet fraud cases.
Unlike the situation before, these days, fraudsters, although they are abroad, speak fluent Estonian and, using a wide range of fictional cases, extract PIN codes from victims. This is followed by another call, in which the caller introduces himself as a bank representative, informs the person that he has become a victim of a fraudulent scheme, and usually asks for a second PIN code.
Jaagup Toompuu, head of the Criminal Police Unit of the Estonian Anti-Money Laundering Service, said that “the bank representative” is trying to heighten emotions by telling the victim that he has been scammed, in order to rob him of his clear thinking.
“Haste is very important for scammers, so that the person does not have time to think or stop,”
said Toompuu.
Thus, the agitated victim enters the PIN 2 code, and the scammer uses it during the call to steal money from the victim’s account. It is especially easier to convince older people to physically hand over money or a bank card. Fraudsters either go to the victims to pick it up themselves or have it sent via a parcel machine.
Banks use systems that allow them to intervene if suspicious transfers are seen, thus preventing fraud, but sometimes when the bank tries to contact the victim, the victim is busy talking to the scammer. Sometimes banks manage to unilaterally block the account before the money has flowed out.
Kätlin Kukk, Director of the Security Center at the Estonian SEB bank, told the program Aktuaalne kaamera that when necessary, the bank contacts the customer, but very often there are cases when this is not possible, because the customer is already talking on the phone with the fraudster. She noted: “Then we take matters into our own hands and block everything immediately. Over nine to 10 months, we’ve already prevented a seven-figure amount.”
Representatives of both the bank and the PPA indicate that
no legitimate financial institution will ever ask for PIN codes over the phone.
Fraudsters tend to pretend to be not only representatives of banks, but also representatives of government institutions, delivery service providers or electricity and telecommunications companies.
One of the largest fraud cases was registered in November, when a 70-year-old resident of Harju County fell victim to an investment scam and lost a total of 650,000 euros. However, fraud schemes have become more sophisticated, and it is not only the elderly or otherwise vulnerable who fall victim to them. Business leaders and other people who are generally cautious in their daily lives are also left with empty accounts.
Catching fraudsters is a priority for the PPA, but it is complicated by the organized nature of the fraudulent activities and the fact that the fraudsters are located abroad. Tompu pointed out that the fraudsters are located abroad, and in Estonia, those who transport money are mostly caught. The goal is to catch the creators of the schemes, and this requires extensive international cooperation.
However,
the most important thing is public vigilance and awareness that fraudulent schemes exist.
If people do not give up sensitive information themselves, the fraudsters will be unable to do anything.
Adrian Venables, Head of the Cybersecurity Program at Tallinn University of Technology, noted that the main weapon against fraudsters is education. It is important to understand that when someone contacts you and unexpectedly asks for money, you need to stop and think. “A genuine organization will not mind if you say ‘ok, thankyou for letting me know, I’m gonna go away, check, go to the police, I will go to the organization’,” said the cybersecurity expert. Kukk added that this is observed in most cases – all transactions are approved by the customer himself, and all access is given by the customer.
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