In 2023 alone, the police received 238,371 fraud reports, which was an increase of over 42,000 reports compared to the year before. During the same period, the proceeds of crime also increased by a whopping 22 percent. The total proceeds of crime were written at a breathtaking 7.5 billion kroner.
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You may have been deceived when shopping for food
Recently wrote News24 about a form of fraud that the Swedish Food Agency raised the alarm about. They have discovered during checks that over 600 tons of basmati rice had been mislabeled, which in the long run means that you may have been misled if you bought it in the grocery store.
– Thanks to good cooperation between the Swedish Food Agency, the municipalities, the Police, Customs and the Work Environment Agency, we have stopped mislabeled and defective products. In this way, the effort has also contributed to healthier competition for the benefit of all companies that follow the rules, said Sofia Ardellhead of the labeling and export promotion unit at the Swedish Food Agency, in a press release.
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The fraudsters earned billions in 2023
The type of crime that increased the most when it came to fraud in the previous year was investment fraud, followed by telephone fraud.
And the trend of recent years unfortunately does not appear to be slowing down. On the contrary, fraudsters continue to steal money, with a certain type of fraud that stands out significantly from the statistics, according to a new report from the Financial Supervisory Authority.
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Photo: Caisa Rasmussen/TT
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According to the police, the profits are reinvested in new criminal schemes such as drugs and weapons.
Profits of Crime 2023 by Fraud Type:
Source: The police
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The alarm: Fraud is increasing in Sweden
The Financial Supervisory Authority, FI, has now come out and sounded the alarm that fraud via payment services is at sky-high levels, while other fraud crimes are increasing in number.
“During the first half of 2024, the total amount as a result of fraud via payment services amounted to SEK 1,014 million,” the authority writes in a press release.
However, the figures have shown a decrease compared to the second half of 2023, when the corresponding amount was written at SEK 1,124 million.
But despite that, it turns out that in the first half of 2024, the number of transactions carried out by fraudsters was more than before, 140,039 times compared to 138,640 times in the previous half year.
– It is worrying that the total amount of fraud remains at such a high level and that the number of frauds is also increasing. The work to protect consumers and stop the flow of money to criminals should be a priority issue for companies. For consumers, it is still important to be vigilant, says Malin Alpenhead of the business area Payments at FI, in a press release.
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Source: The police
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