Finance Latvia Association has calculated the amount of money clients of four of Latvia’s biggest banks have lost.
The amount of money returned thanks to preventive measures is EUR 500 000 a month.
The amount of money clients have lost to scams the transactions in which they confirmed personally reached EUR 9.5 million by the end of October. At the same time, the amount of money saved from scams in the past nine months reaches EUR 4.2 million. Data also indicates that the amount of money Latvian residents lost due to scams in October – EUR 1.4 million – is 55% higher when compared to the average monthly amount lost to scams across three quarters of 2022 (EUR 900 000).
Statistics show: investment scams remain the most profitable scam approach in Latvia.
Scams like that have cost Latvian residents more than EUR 4 million in 2022. Phone scams have cost residents EUR 1.8 million. Other forms of scams have cost them more than EUR 3.6 million this year.
«Scammers’ methods to cheat people out of their money are becoming more and more slippery. For example, recently someone sent out a fake e-mail on behalf of Citadele Bank. This e-mail informed recipients of supposedly important information, inviting them to click on a link. This link led them to a fake Citadele Bank’s internet website. To reproduce the bank’s official correspondence, scammers included in the text the bank’s official e-mail address,» comments Citadele Bank’s IT Security Office manager Roberts Birzgalis.
Three pieces of advice to identify e-mail scams:
First of all, residents should pay attention to the sender. People can name their e-mail address however they like. For example, the e-mail can reveal that the message came from Citadele, but the address itself has nothing to do with the bank (suppor@example.com). This is an enormous red flag. Residents should NEVER open or click on any included links in such e-mails! There are also examples when scammers come up with e-mail addresses with one letter changed. If residents suspect an e-mail is a fake, they should contact their bank.
Secondly, although scammers are gradually becoming better at faking e-mails, they still make mistakes (language use, incorrect or partial bank logos, etc.). One of the biggest red flags that helps identify fake e-mails is the call for immediate action. This often makes residents instinctively click on the links provided.
Thirdly, residents must never – neither over the phone or over the internet – agree to provide information about their internet banking, payment cards, passwords and codes. Residents must never send such information to anyone. Banks or police officers will NEVER ask residents to provide banks account information.