Estonians lose €21 million to scammers in nine months
Fraud victims in Estonia lost more than €20 million in the first nine months of this year, about €4 million less than a year earlier. April was the worst month, with over €4 million stolen.
Scammers have stolen more than €20 million from people and companies in Estonia, a Baltic country, over the first nine months of this year, according to the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA). That is roughly €4 million less than in the same period last year, when victims lost nearly €25 million, which officials describe as a slight improvement.
April was the worst month, with more than €4 million taken. One company alone lost €1.7 million to an invoice scam known as business email compromise (BEC). PPA Director General Egert Belitšev explained that such schemes target businesses: criminals use a fake or spoofed email account to convince a firm that one of its regular partners has changed its bank details, then instruct it to send payments to the new account.
Ukrainian call centers shut down
Part of the decline is linked to fraud operations in Ukraine involving senior public officials, which have since been uncovered. More than 90 call centers were closed in Ukraine over the summer, and the effect was visible in Estonia too: no phone scams were reported in August. Belitšev said the troubling aspect is that investigators identified Ukrainian officials who took part in the schemes and protected the scammers.
Only about €1 million of the more than €20 million lost this year is expected to be recovered. At the same time, authorities have had some success in identifying offenders: 38 people have been caught this year, most of them so-called money mules.
Offenders are mostly young
Prosecutor General Astrid Asi said most offenders are young people. They were largely recruited through social media accounts, and many came from outside Estonia. Some were minors, though most were in their 20s.
Authorities expect investment scams to become more common soon. Sandra Horma, head of fraud prevention at the Estonian Banking Association, said scammers typically promise extraordinary returns and often present the offer as a secret opportunity available to one particular person. They try to create the impression that the individual is such a talented investor that they have been noticed, for example on social media. Investment fraud caused €5 million in losses in the first nine months of this year.
