Digital scams on the rise in Finland, with young adults as prime targets

Otto Saari was visiting his parents when he received an unexpected text message warning of unusual activity on his bank account. The message came from the same number his bank had used in the past, urging him to log in via a link to verify a transaction. The link appeared identical to his bank’s login page, which he used frequently. Saari entered his login details twice, but the page wouldn’t open. On the third attempt, he realized something was wrong, and he had given his banking details to a scammer.

Immediately, Saari called his bank and was informed that the bank never sends login links. His bank’s number had been hijacked for a scam. Saari is just one of many victims of digital scams. A survey by Finanssiala ry revealed that 70% of Finns have been targeted by digital scams or attempts.

Most victims are not the elderly, but rather young people under 25. Over a fifth of them have lost passwords, login details, or money to criminals. The survey does not provide a reason for this, however, it suggests that young people’s activity on online stores may play a part, says Annukka Multanen, an expert from Nordea’s fraud prevention unit.

Young men, in particular, have been targeted nearly twice as much as women. Niko Saxholm, Director of Infrastructure and Security at Finanssiala believes this is linked to online gaming. While mobile games may not involve much real money, they do have in-game currency which is valuable, making it lucrative for criminals to steal such profiles. However, investment scams generate the highest returns for criminals.

In 2023, Finns lost over 16 million to investment scams, an increase of around 90% from the previous year. Criminals advertise scam sites on social media platforms frequented by under 50s, promising big returns with minimal risk from virtual currency investments.

According to Multanen, the typical initial investment is around 250 euros. The scammers build trust with the victims by allowing them to make small transfers to themselves, sometimes leading to the victim and their family losing hundreds of thousands of euros.

When the victim realizes the scam and stops the transfers, the criminals may pose as a bank, authority, or other service offering assistance in retrieving the money, of course, in exchange for a fee. Multanen advises against falling for such offers and recommends contacting one’s bank immediately.

In 2023, Finns lost over 44 million to online scams, and banks stopped about 33 million from being transferred to criminals, bringing the total to nearly 77 million, more than double the amount in 2022.