In fraud offences, the perpetrator aims to obtain financial benefits by deceiving the victim. Fraud often causes financial damage to the victim.
Nowadays, there are many kinds of fraud types, and they have moved to information networks. E-mail and the internet have provided an opportunity to reach large numbers of people easily and at almost no cost.
Sometimes criminals can impersonate public officials, such as police officers.
If you suspect that you may have transferred money into a scammer’s bank account or given them access to your account, contact your bank immediately and let them know. If your debit or credit card has ended up in the wrong hands, cancel it.
You can file a police report online or visit your local police station. It is worth letting the police know even if there is little chance of getting your money back. The police can use the information to find links between cases. Always notify the police when you come across a scam even if you do not fall for the scam yourself.
Large-scale scams are often orchestrated by international criminal organisations, but individual scammers also try to get their fingers in the pie.
The fraud offences in the statistics are also affected by how easily victims report incidents to the police. The part of offences that stay hidden may be fairly large.
The common part of scams is that you are lured into giving your money, personal information or account and credit card information without getting anything in return, or the product is not what was promised. Lost money is often very difficult to recover.
The best way to protect oneself is usually common sense. If the offer sounds too good to be true, it seldom is. Ask yourself
Fraudsters appeal to people’s hopes of getting wealthy quickly, improving one’s lives or losing weight. The offer is often valid for a very short time or a limited amount of products is available. You can get a symbolic gift, after which you feel you owe a favor in return, and it’s more difficult to refuse the offer.
How to prevent fraud offences and the damage they cause:
In many fraud crimes, your information end up in the fraudster’s possession. File a report with the police and bank, if you have lost your driver’s license, passport or identity card. You can report a missing document to the police digitally in the police’s website via online services.
Immediately contact the bank you transferred the money from and inform them about the situation. File a report of an offence to the police. Sometimes a foreign bank requires a copy of the report of an offence so that they can stop the money transfer.
Different scams often end up with the police as fraud. It’s worth it to report fraud to the police, even though the chances of getting the property back are low.
By using the reports, the police are able to make connections between crimes. Often the same perpetrators have scammed many others, and the reports may help to get on their trail. Unfortunately, there is very little that the police can do to help, especially in the case of scams originating from abroad. The perpetrators in wide-spread fraud networks have, however, been caught via international cooperation.
Fraud can be punished with a fine or imprisonment
Being scammed isn’t something to be ashamed of - openness and information prevent new crimes
We should all be aware of the most common scams in recent years. The best ways to prevent scams are information and good practices. Recognising skilful and inventive scams requires a critical attitude and vigilance.
It’s important to speak up about scams. At the same time, it’s important to make sure that those that do not know the risks of scams or how to act online in a safe way get the information and competence they need.
Scam letters that try to get money with various fake stories are sent via email, text messages and still sometimes ordinary mail. These letters are often called Nigerian letters.
The stories appeal either to people’s desire to help others or to their greed for easy money, sometimes both. E-mails notifying people that they have won a substantial amount of money or a prize in a lottery that they have not even entered are also common.
When you get suspicious messages:
On different online marketplaces, there are scams that relate to selling, buying or renting goods or services.
Fraudsters try to get people to react quickly and take risks by hurrying them up and suggesting interesting prices. First, the sum is paid in full or partly to an account given by the fraudster. Later, it is found that the goods have not been delivered or they don’t correspond to what was agreed.
The seller also can no longer be contacted after the transaction.
On the internet, fraud has spread widely into many popular services. A rented apartment or cottage turns out to be unavailable, and a long drive for a holiday or with a moving van was for nothing. The risk can also be related to concert, theatre or sport event tickets.
Online auction and flea market sites provide private individuals with a way to buy and sell goods over the internet. However, the deal is always made between the seller and the buyer, and the site administrator has no liability if the service is abused. Consumer protection laws do not apply to contracts made between two individuals.
You should be alarmed in the following cases:
The same rule applies to all of the aforementioned forms of fraud: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Fraudulent online dating profiles have cost lovestruck victims dearly. These so-called romance scammers take advantage of chat forums and online dating sites to make their victims fall in love with them. It can be hard to realise that their long-distance sweetheart only wants their money.
Why do people fall for romance scams? The motives are often related to infatuation, falling in love as well as gaining money.
A love or romance scam is a crime, and anyone can fall victim to it. The perpetrators are usually very skilled both in knowledge of the human mind and exploiting information networks. They ruthlessly use people’s natural need to find company or a partner. It can be very difficult for a victim to identify whether they are getting to know another person looking for company in the normal way or getting scammed by a professional criminal.
Romance scams aim to serve a love potion with the following ingredients:
Have you been or do you suspect having been the victim of a romance scam?
A romance scams Youtube-video (in Finnish)
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Support for the victims of scams from Victim Support Finland’s pages
Test on Victim Support Finland’s pages whether you recognise a romance scam
You may come across chain letter-like money games online. It is advisable to be very sceptical about these. They are often pyramid-type scams that are based on the people at the top making more money, as more members are recruited at lower levels of the organisation.
International organisations and product ranges are sometimes used to disguise these kinds of fundraising schemes. Lotteries can also be used.
If getting your winnings involves being requested to pay fees to get them, you can be sure it is a scam. These crimes may also include reliable evidence, such as winning letters, certificates for winnings waiting on accounts or links to fake web pages where you can see the winning amounts on accounts by giving the winner’s name.
Pyramid scams are done in a manner comparable to chain letters or pyramid marketing. They promise quick and easy wealth, which is why people fall for these scams. You may be approached by email, letter or telephone. You may get an invitation to an investment seminar, and someone you know may recommend it to you.
The pyramid game differs from legal pyramid marketing in that the income of new members is not tied to product or service sales, but instead to acquiring new members and their joining fees. Pyramid games may look like normal trading or investing at first glance, but they are about criminal activity.
Pyramid scams may involve marketing products that are only props to make the activities look legal and normal. The products themselves are part of the scam, i.e. overpriced, of poor quality, worthless and hard to sell. The criminals aim to collect money from new members buying their start package.
Victims of pyramid scams pay the starting fee or other fee that goes to a person higher up in the pyramid. That person gets a part of the starting fee of people below him/her. The financial benefit of participants would require a constantly growing member count.
In reality, all pyramid systems break down at some point when the growth stops, and people on low levels lose the money they invested. This kind of activity is illegal in Finland, as it is elsewhere in the world. It is about breaking money colletion laws.
Phishing involves collecting information illegally about people’s financial affairs, such as online banking codes, credit card details or personal information. The criminals are often operating from abroad.
You may get a message, for example, that requests that you log into the service immediately with your banking codes, or your account will be closed. When you click on the link included in the message, you move to a website that looks like your own bank’s pages. It is probably a fraudster phishing for your bank account, credit card or personal information who intends to use them for criminal purposes.
Phishing for personal information, passwords, ID’s and phone numbers is aimed at getting financial benefits. A fraudster may, for example, apply for a credit card in your name or enter into part payment contracts create a fake profile in online services.
Keep in mind that banks, public authorities and other upstanding institutions never ask for account details, passwords or other confidential information via e-mail or on the phone.
If you suspect you have given your information in the wrong place, contact your bank’s or credit card company’s closing service so that they can close the credentials and prevent misuse.
Identity theft means situations where another person’s personal information or other individual information is used for fraud, for example. Identity theft causes harm or financial damage to the victim.
An identity thief may exploit their victim’s information by, for example, ordering products in the victim’s name. Identity theft may only be noticed after a long time, and the crime may have caused significant damage by then.
An identity theft may only require acquiring and using the victim’s name, address and personal identity code. In identity thefts, the victim either gives their personal or banking information in the wrong place or they are collected via data breaches.
The majority of information required for identity theft is collected from the internet in one way or another, for example, via the following:
A small part of identity thefts involve the use of stolen identity documents or stealing the victim’s mail, hoping it contains the desired information. The victim may also throw out carelessly papers that contain personal information.
Personal information may be collected also via data breaches targeted at organisations, and the criminals may get their hands on a large amount of personal information. The personal information of private people, obtained via a data breach, can be used over and over again, even after many years.
Investment fraudsters usually contact their victims first by telephone. The scammers can spend a long time persuading their target to invest.
The caller is often a foreign person who says they are, for example, an investment advisor, an investment dealer or a portfolio manager. The customer is offered share, mortgage loan or real estate investments, option or currency transactions and promised a high return on the money. Impressive brochures about the investment may be sent to the customer.
The seller tries to rush the victim into making a decision by claiming, for example, that the company is about to go public, or that there are other major transactions in the pipeline that make it imperative to invest right now. The customer can also be pressured in such a way that they cannot refuse the offer.
Investors can initially be paid substantial profits and enticed in this way to invest more. After a while, all contact stops and telephone calls and e-mails go unanswered.
After lost investments, a new entrepreneur comes along and offers to buy the worthless shares. The investor must pay different additional fees for them to invest in a new purpose. This is part of the scam, and many fall for it to get back their lost property, promised to be returned.
It’s also possible that the investment’s rising value only shows on the fake pages that the victim has access to. In reality, no investment has been made.
How to spot investment fraud
Use caution in connection with investment offers!
Many people have received an invitation to a timeshare presentation in the mail. People are also grabbed straight off the street to attend timeshare presentations, especially in Southern holiday destinations. Memberships of holiday clubs and their services may also be sold in presentations. The street-level merchants are often sincere and unaware of the true nature of the operation.
The marketing of timeshares is pushy and may involve prizes and offering alcohol. Impressive brochures may be shown in connection with the sales and sellers may emphasize that the shares are profitable investments. Attendees at the presentation are coerced into deciding there and then.
Before you invest in a timeshare, remember the following:
Foreign companies send various kinds of offers that are made to look like bills to businesses in particular. Paying the bill qualifies the business to be entered into an international register, for example. The invoice may, however, have no grounds at all, and by paying you only lose your money.
If the business pays one bill, a new bill will be automatically sent the following year. If the second bill is not paid, various reminders are sent to enforce payment.
Always check whether a bill is legitimate. If you do not know the service provider, it is worth investigating their background and making sure that the service they are offering both meets your needs and is proportionate to the price.
A means of payment fraud means using a bank, payment or credit card, cheque or a similar payment method without legal permission. The offence can also be another way of misusing cards. The attempt to withdraw money with a stolen bank card is a means of payment fraud.
A punishable means of payment fraud can also be exceeding an account’s balance or the maximum credit limit agreed. The development of payment card issuers’ monitoring systems prevents payment card crimes.
Payment card scams (video on Poliisitube, in Finnish)
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Especially on the internet, it’s possible to run into earning possibilities that offer ways to earn money quickly and easily. Often these offers do not require any particular expertise to earn easy money:
Fraudsters want to create an illusion where you can make easy money, even thousands of euros per month, without doing much. The truth can be far from it. It’s likely that you won’t earn anything, but lose time and money instead.
Examples of different fraudulent job offers:
Before you think you just got lucky, check the entity you are dealing with. If easy and fun money is promised, be sceptical and find out about the service provider’s background.
Be careful if you are required to invest in a business idea to earn money. You may lose the money you invested and have to work very hard without any income or for only a few cents/euros per month.
Scams based on impersonating a police officer are a serious problem in Finland. These scammers pose as police officers and exploit Finns’ trust in public officials. In legislation, fake police officer criminality is called impersonating a public official.
The scammers target older people in particular and fish for their debit card and online banking information. In most cases, the scammers trick the elderly by pretending to be police officers over the telephone or in person.
The fake police officer may, for example, call the elderly person first, and later a person or persons posing as police officers show up at the elderly person’s door. The fake police officer then tell their victims about various, fictional, acute threats to their bank accounts. The victims are told to urgently provide their online banking details and passwords or bank and payment cards in order to protect their assets.
The money on the accounts has been stolen by using the banking information obtained. The money is often transferred to accomplices’ bank accounts with their help or by withdrawing cash directly from cash machines.
The phenomenon has caused substantial damage. The victims’ bank accounts have been emptied completely when possible. With the help of banks’ security staff, the police have managed to recover some of the funds that have been transferred into the criminals’ accounts.
The fake police officer phenomenon’s modus operandi keeps changing. All kinds of fraud have increased based on exploiting public trust in the police, bank staff and other parties that inspire trust. In addition to phone calls, fraudsters have sought access to the homes of elderly people to scout for valuables, cash and weapons.
The police warns the public by disseminating information about the phenomenon, both nationally and regionally. Several stakeholders that work actively with the elderly, have also been asked to contribute.
It is important to talk about these offences and to explain to older people that they must keep information relating to their assets, debit cards and bank accounts secret. The information must not be disclosed to anyone, regardless of who they say they are. In their official capacity, the police will never request your bank card, PIN code or online banking codes!
A fake policeman makes a hoax call
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Information on fraudsters on the Consumer Union of Finland’s website (in Finnish)
The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority’s instructions for scam cases
About supporting elderly people and preventing crimes on the police’s website
Did you receive a suspicious message in the name of an authority or other reliable party by email or text message? For example, scam messages are sent frequently in the name of the Police of Finland. Such messages are junk mail and signify the first phase of a scam, through which scammers seek to obtain the recipient’s personal data, online banking codes or credit card numbers. The goal is to obtain funds from the recipient. An attempted scam can often be identified from a short time limit and threats of significant consequences if the recipient does not respond to the message.
Delete such messages – do not open them. Do not open any attachments or links in a scam message. Such scam messages are not sent by the Police of Finland, and you do not need to contact the police, but you can submit a crime report if you consider it necessary. If you however opened such a message and followed its instructions, save the message and submit a crime report. If you gave your credit card details or online banking codes to unauthorised parties, cancel them immediately in your bank’s services and submit a crime report. The Police of Finland wants citizens to be aware of scam messages and the risks they entail. Also help people close to you identify and delete any scam messages.
How can you identify a scam message?
Managing director scams are one of the scam types that companies have faced in the last few years.
The scam consists of a message sent to a person handling financial transactions, in a managing director’s or other senior director’s name, that asks to pay an invoice or transfer money. The messages sent can look very real and seem like they were sent from inside the company.
Usually the victim of the scam is affected by the fact that the message seems to be from a high level. The fraudster may refer to an urgent situation and flatter the victim, saying that he/she would be the only trustworthy person to handle the matter.
When the money is transferred or the fraudulent invoice is paid, the money often goes to a bank outside Europe. Investigating financial operations afterwards can show that the lost money was transferred to different accounts in a very complicated manner.
Many managing director scams are often executed so skilfully that any company and its staff can fall victim to them. People are often ashamed of being scammed and don’t want others to know about it. However, it’s important to share information about managing director scams, so that companies can identify scamming attempts more effectively.
Be aware of risks, tell the staff about the possibility of scams.
Establish payment procedures that certify the correctness of invoices. Follow practices.
Keep hardware and data security up-to-date.
Be careful about what information you share about the company in, for example, social media.
If you get a suspicious phone call, email or payment request, ask a competent colleague or the company’s IT department for advice.
Always contact the police in fraud cases, even if you avoid being scammed.
If you transferred money to foreign bank accounts, immediately contact your own bank and tell them about the incident. Then report the crime to the police. Sometimes the bank needs a copy of the report of an offence to stop the money transfer.
Online fraud is becoming more and more common. Broadly speaking, cybercrime includes all crimes committed online or with the help of information networks.
Information networks and systems have created new ways to commit fraud.
