“I think he’s an honest guy”

A new type of identity fraud, where a car owner first gets his car broken into, has caused the Police to issue a warning.

When Camilla Rubin got out to her car, she saw that there was a note on the windshield. It said someone had hit her car and there was a phone number she could call to sort out the problem.

“Wanted my driver’s license number”

Camilla called the person who promised to contact the insurance company but said she also needed a picture of Camilla’s driver’s license to arrange the practicalities.

– He was quite insistent that he needed my driver’s license number and social security number. When I refused, he stopped contacting me, says Camilla Rubin.

The person on the other end had sent a picture of his own driver’s license so he was easy for Camilla to find. But it turned out that the man she caught had nothing to do with the matter – more than that he himself had been the victim of a fraud and had his identity hijacked.

“Be fooled into thinking it’s a healthy guy”

Jan Olsson, fraud expert at the Police, believes that the fact that the person has left a note after the “accident” and a picture of what he says is his driver’s license deceives the victim into thinking that he is dealing with an honest person.

– People have been misled into thinking that it is a healthy guy. You don’t think it’s fake. And then you send a picture of your driver’s license – but you shouldn’t do that. It’s not just that the photo on the driver’s license can be used in a new fraud. You can also use the information to create a new, fake driver’s license, he says.

The fake driver’s license can be used if, for example, the police stop the criminal for speeding or something else. The person who then receives the fine is the crime victim.

“Have common sense”

Camilla Rubin is not alone in falling victim to the attempted fraud. The police in Jämtland and Härjedalen have previously gone out and warned motorists about the new form of fraud.

Jan Olsson has several tips to avoid being scammed.
– Never give out important information. For example, some young people post a picture when they have obtained their driver’s license. The advice is to have common sense. If something sounds too good to be true, it often is, he says.