– The police have received many inquiries in recent days where residents in our area have been the target of a scam. Many have received calls from people pretending to be from the police. Stop, think, check is a good approach – and don’t share your bank ID, password or sensitive personal information over the phone, says Operations Manager Tommy Bergholt Eriksen in the South East Police District.
People of all ages are being scammed.
This type of fraud goes on all the time, but especially recently there have been a lot of inquiries about this type of fraud attempt, says Nettpatruljen commander in the South Eastern Police District, Mads Holmren.
“There is a lot of talk about the fact that it is the elderly who are cheated, but here we see that people of all ages are being cheated,” says Holmeren.
Among other things, he says, scammers use so-called spoofing, which means they can choose the phone number they are apparently calling from. In this way, they can, for example, call from the police, your bank or the tax office.
– It is also possible, for example, that you receive what looks like a normal text message from your son, where he says he has lost his wallet and asks to borrow NOK 2,000 and gives him an account number, and then you send the number to the money farm. If they find, for example, more prior information and know that your son is abroad, it is easier to trick them, says Holmeren.
– Contact us immediately
The cases they have been notified of recently, relate to everything from small amounts that have disappeared, to those who have lost everything they had in several accounts.
– The amounts vary from a thousand kroner to more than a million kroner. The first thing is that they lose their money, but the other is the feeling of betrayal and that it hurts to have been deceived, says Holmeren, who points out that some victims do not dare to tell anyone about it.
However, he makes a strong appeal to report if you are subjected to this type of fraud.
– It is important to contact both the bank and the police immediately, says Holmeren.
Scammers are clever and will, for example, call people from the IRS phone number when people are waiting to settle their taxes. Of course, it can be very easy to get scammed.
– Do victims of this scam get their money back?
“It varies. Some people have insurance that covers this money, and sometimes the bank can recover the money or the bank covers the loss. But other times, some people feel like they’re losing everything,” says Holmeren, who points out that as everything goes digital, fraudsters are becoming increasingly adept at scamming online — because that’s where we keep our money.
artificial intelligence
Police fear that an AI person could eventually get their hands on more cunning scams that look more believable, for example through voice imitation and fake Facetime conversations, where it could appear as if a relative is talking to you into a mobile phone camera – while you are actually chatting to a scammer in another country.
“So far we've had a few cases of voice impersonation, but we haven't had any completely convincing attempts yet,” Holmeren says.
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