The fraud that woke up the banks

Telephone fraudsters ruthlessly cheated Swedish pensioners out of large sums of money. But after a recent TV report, the banks stepped up, according to Niclas Andersson at Noa.

The criminal profits from so-called vishing have now decreased by over 40 percent.

In an attention-grabbing program, SVT’s Uppdrag review last year was able to show how telephone fraudsters stole millions of kroner from elderly Swedes.

With video and audio footage from an unknown person who hacked the league, it was shown how pensioners were tricked into giving the fraudsters access to their bank accounts with cynical and sophisticated methods, with the perpetrators heard laughing and insulting their victims after the transfers.

On Monday, four people were charged with involvement in the crime.

Niclas Andersson, deputy head of the investigation unit at the National Operational Department, says that the program had a great effect on the banks’ efforts against fraud.

– It was very clear that both the politicians but also the banks and other social actors understood that they had to work more on these issues.

Profits from phone fraud, so-called vishing, have now decreased by over 40 percent – ​​a result he attributes to the work of the banks.

Among other things, it is about the police and the banks now meeting regularly and sharing information about schemes and personal data, but also that the banks are much stricter in their control functions to ensure that money cannot be transferred as easily.

– It has also meant that those who are at risk of being exposed need to think once or twice more before making the transfer, which has had a good effect.

However, there is more to be done to counter the fraud. Andersson points, among other things, to Finland, where telecom companies have contributed by stopping fraudulent calls from reaching them.

FACT Protect yourself from phone fraud

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