Criminals fish for information and try to scam money.
Fraudsters pose as representatives of Europol or the Police Board. Adobe Stock / AOP
Inspector General of Police Hannu Kautto warned the Finns on his Twitter account about a recent scam in which criminals make phone calls pretending to be officials of the European police agency Europol.
The scam calls in question have been around for a long time, as Europol reported on it in its announcement already in April of last year.
According to Europol, the scammers tell the victim that they have been involved in a serious crime or have been the victim of a crime, such as identity theft.
– The fraudsters then ask the victims to provide personal information and make payments posing as Europol officials, the release states.
According to Europol, the calls have been made to look like they originate from real Europol numbers.
Europol and Kautto remind that Europol never communicates with citizens as mentioned.
– Europol never directly contacts citizens asking for immediate action or to reveal personal information, Europol tweeted on Tuesday.
Kautto advises to block numbers from which scam calls come.
– Close the phone and block the number. However, if you lost money, report it to the police, Kautto tweets.
Also, beware of e-mail messages
In addition to the scam calls, there have been scam e-mails that refer to Europol’s leading people. These messages have also been sent in the name of third-party companies claiming to act on behalf of Europol.
The Cyber Security Center has also warned about a scam campaign in Finland, where criminals use the name of the Police Board in scam messages spread by e-mail.
– The theme of the message can be, for example, a false subpoena application or an unpaid fine. The messages are phishing and there is no need to react to them. Similar fraud campaigns carried out in the name of the police have also been seen around the world, the Cyber Security Center says in June in his review.