Fraud

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:

• delete unclear email messages as junk mail
• do not answer the messages
• do not download attachments from the messages
• you don’t need to send the messages to the police separately.

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.

Only imagination limits scamming

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. 

Consumer protection doesn’t apply to online purchases by private persons

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 seller pressures you to purchase quickly
• the seller company has no trustworthy background information
• the offer you got is even too low. 

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.

Handsome doctors or officers appeal to romantic minds

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:

• The victim is usually contacted via social media.
• Soon after the contact, the criminal wants a common future and a visit to Finland, which get cancelled for very imaginative reasons.
• Video conversations with the fraudster are not possible for one reason or another.
• Romance scammers often bring up their own substantial wealth or that they recently inherited someone. 
• The fraudster wants to send a large sum of money to the victim, but before that, the victim needs to send money to realise the transfer.
• Often criminals request that the money be transferred to someone else’s, not the fraudster’s, account. Money requests may also have to do with some kind of emergency, such as hospital costs, paying salaries, customs payments, unemployment, divorce or the death of a relative.
• Requests to send money can be repeated, and various receipts and documents from authorities may be presented to back them up. Outsiders may also be involved to testify for the authenticity of situations. The victim of the scam may be contacted by a bank employee, customs officer or doctor handling the fraudster’s affairs. Email messages can come from strange addresses, although the address format is usually firstname.lastname@company.com.
• The victim is supplied with photographs where the fraudster poses with animals or children or in a job position that inspires trust.  Usually, the fraudster claims to be wealthy, in a good work situation and in good physical shape.

Have you been or do you suspect having been the victim of a romance scam?

• Do not send money or your personal information to anyone anymore.
• Save the messages from the fraudster and write down the phone numbers used.
• Contact your own bank and close the accounts that you suspect have fallen into the hands of the fraudsters.
• Report the crime to the police.
• Talk about your situation at Victim Support Finland, which is involved in helping crime victims.

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 a money collection offence 

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. 

Products can be only props

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. 

Information is used to get financial benefits

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.

• Do not react to messages asking for personal information. 
• Do not give your personal information, complete or confirm them, unless you are sure about the message’s sender.
• Do not call a phone number included in a suspicious email message. Never give your personal information on the phone, unless you are completely sure about the caller’s identity.
• Do not click links in suspicious email messages or text messages. The link may direct you to a fake page that asks you to give personal information. 
• You should also be sceptical about messages in social media. By opening an attachment, you may download spyware or virus software onto the computer or phone or join a service subject to a fee. 
• Always be careful about your friend’s calls for help, and confirm the authenticity of the request before you send money or give your information electronically or in any other way.

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. 

A few pieces of information are enough for criminals

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:

• social media profiles
• phishing sites where the victim is lured into giving their personal or banking information by promising various benefits or prizes
• using spyware that are sent to collect information about victims
• by hacking or from stolen mobile devices. 

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. 

Large data breaches cause long-term damage

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. 

Fraudsters rush investment decisions

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. 

Purchasing worthless shares as part of the scam

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

• Brochures advertising investments usually have very little factual content.
• In the beginning, the amount of money may be small, but the final property scammed is large.
• The income offered is better than average.
• Contact details for the service provider, or information about where they are based, are incomplete.
• If you are thinking about investing, it is worth contacting your own bank and enquiring about the background to the offer, especially if the investment is to be guaranteed by a foreign bank or involves shares quoted on international stock markets.
• You may be encourage to exchange money to a different currency.

Use caution in connection with investment offers!

• Don’t make hasty decisions. If you are only given little time to think, it may be a scam. If it were a genuine offer, you would probably have enough time to ask an expert for advice.
• Find out whether the investment advisor’s references are real. Is there a deposit for investments, who administers investments and is an authority monitoring the investments?
• Remember that a well-known company name does not guarantee that information given about shares is true.
• If an email you received seems to be from a well-known company, contact the sender and make sure the message is real before investing any money.
• Ask an expert for advice, if necessary.
• It is also worth checking with the Financial Supervisory Authority whether the service provider has notified the authorities of their business.

Warning list of suspicious and unauthorised service providers on the Financial Supervisory Authority’s website 

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:

• Acquire detailed information about the item for sale in writing and in your own language.
• Avoid paying by credit card.
• You should check that the seller company actually exists.
• Always go and see the property first and make sure it is as promised.
• Don’t hurry even though it intrigues you. Get additional information or ask for advice elsewhere.

Further information about timeshare scams on the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority’s website 

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.

Check whether a bill is legitimate

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: 

• “Earn money in a quick and fun way” 
• “You earn thousands of euros by working a few hours per week”
• “Work from home and make 200 euros per day.”
•  “You only need an internet connection”.

Easy money makes people fall for scams

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:

• Marketing research in which you complete opinion surveys and marketing questionnaires. To earn money, you have to buy something from the company, such as a starter pack for marketing studies and surveys. You may be asked to test the product, and they may promise that you can keep it, but you end up buying a service by giving your contact information. 
• Clicking advertisements (Paid To Click services) in which you surf on the internet and click on ads. You may not get even one cent for this work. The idea of clicking advertisements is that the administrators of websites make money when other people click on ads. 

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. 

Elderly people as fake police officer victims

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.

Crimes cause substantial damage

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.

Preventing crime relating to fake police officers

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! 

• If you suspect that your bank card and codes have fallen into the wrong hands, cancel the card immediately in the bank’s locking service! 
• Report the offence immediately.
• If it’s an emergency, call 112. 

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?

• The message often claims that the recipient has committed an illegal act.
• The message may request the recipient to provide their personal data or credit card details, online banking codes or other important information. The Police of Finland never requests your personal data, online banking codes, credit card details or funds by email or telephone.
• The message often uses an authoritative tone of voice to ask you to do something urgently. The message may be written in clumsy Finnish, and it may include grammatical errors or typos and odd choices of words.
• Even though the name or email address of the message sender seems legitimate, the sender can be a scammer. The sender’s details may also be fake.
• The message may contain links or attachments that should not be opened. If you open them, malware may be installed on your device.

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. 

People are often ashamed of being scammed, information can prevent new cases

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. 

How to prepare for managing director scams?

• 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.

What to do if money has already been transferred or invoices have been paid?

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.