A particular form of fraud has become more widespread in Sweden in recent years. This type of fraud has been noticed by several telecom companies who feel that this type of fraud is becoming more common, something that Sveriges Radio was the first to report on.
It’s about criminal gangs that threaten or force young people to get mobile subscriptions for people who don’t exist. The purchases are verified using the victims’ BankID and the subscriptions are somehow associated with a real person.
If the vulnerable then refuse to pay the bills for the subscription, they get debts, and in some cases these debts have given rise to a legal process between the person on the subscription and the telecom company.
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Tele2 is one of the telecom companies, in addition to Telia, that has taken up these types of cases in court.
– In 2023, there were approximately 500 cases that were investigated by Tele2 and the police, says Jonas Lindströmgroup security manager at the telecom company, for News24.
Lindström emphasizes that each case looks different.
– There are cases where the holder of the BankID that has been used to legitimize and sign the purchase has been misled or has used his BankID for fraudulent purposes in exchange for payment, then on someone else’s behalf, he says and continues:
– Then there are cases where the holder of the BankID claims to have acted under duress, and then it has been shown in the police investigations. We do not have exact figures on how many claim to have acted under duress.
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Since these frauds can always be linked to legitimate BankID accounts, it is not always easy to prove that you have been defrauded. As for Tele2, they work according to routine on disputing invoices and purchases, Jonas Lindström tells Nyheter24.
If you yourself should be exposed to something similar, Lindström urges you to contact the police and report the incident immediately. Fortunately, there don’t seem to be as many cases of this type of fraud this year as last year.
– The trend looks like it will clearly decrease in 2024, says Lindström to Nyheter24.