It was during Monday that it happened. Over 200,000 customers of Telenor were exposed to malicious calls. They apparently came from Mozambique with the area code +258. Thorbjørn Busch, security consultant at Telenor, wrote in an e-mail to news that the fraudsters have exploited a hole in Telenor’s defense system. Thorbjørn Busch is an expert on security at Telenor. Photo: Telenor – The reason why the calls went through was that the country code has not yet been misused for fraudulent calls, and is therefore not blacklisted in Telenor’s blocking system. – We have sealed the hole during the day, Busch wrote in the e-mail. The attack method used by the fraudsters is called “Wangiri”. The method involves the criminals calling once and hoping the recipient calls back. When they do, the fraudsters try to keep the conversation going for as long as possible. On Monday, Telenor registered that a total of 1,097 Norwegians called back and that some calls lasted two hours. If you call from a normal mobile subscription, you can increase the number per minute for NOK 12.99. In other words, some can expect an expensive invoice. Busch points to the social manipulation that takes place in these cases. – Many Norwegians are on holiday these days. A call from abroad may seem less surprising if a family member is abroad, and perhaps even expected. The police: – Increase on a national basis But it is not just Telenor that notices that fraudsters are on the move. The police in Nordland feel that fraud is an increasing problem. Especially recently, it has picked up. Several have gone to the glue stick. – It is in quite large sizes, up to a hundred thousand kroner. In the last week, we have had four cases in Bodø alone and we fear large numbers of blackouts, says Maria Skog, who is a police attorney in the Nordland police district. Maria Skog, police attorney in the Nordland police district. Photo: Marius Guttormsen / news Common to the cases that have been brought to the table lately, is that people are called by a man who states that he works in the police or Økokrim. – He says that it is urgent and that he needs information. He stands out as trustworthy and ongoing. This has meant that several people have given account information, which in turn has led to them being defrauded. Last week we had an amount of NOK 130,000. – Is there one or more perpetrators? – It is still early in the investigation and we are trying to uncover the background to this. In general, we see that there is an increase on a national basis in this form of fraud cases. This type of fraud is not called “Wangiri”, but “fishing”. This means cases where criminals pretend to be someone else, in an attempt to get you to give up something you shouldn’t. It can be user information for bank ID, card number or to get you to transfer money. DNB: – High pressure over time Sebastian Takle in DNB says that it is undoubtedly in this form of fraud that most cases appear. He manages the work of dealing with fraud against the customers and the group. – In this area, we saw an increase of 568 per cent last year, in the number of people who attended. The pressure that hit us last summer has never gone away. It is what dominates our landscape. Sebastian Takle in DNB. Photo: PRESSEFOTO / DNB While it used to be common for the criminals to steal between five and 50,000 kroner, it has now become common for them to try to steal several hundred thousand, according to Takle. DNB has also had cases where fraudsters have tried to steal many millions of kroner in individual cases. – There is a very high pressure over time. The amount that the criminals try to steal has also increased greatly recently. Takle calls it a societal problem that neither the police, telecom operators nor financial institutions can handle alone. – The most important thing we do is to collaborate crosswise. My experience is that a lot of good work is being done to fight this form of crime. He believes that the criminals have understood that this is an area where they can make a lot of money with a relatively low chance of being discovered, and with low penalties. – Then it is about prioritizing resources towards this form of crime. It is a relatively honest matter that fraud is not the form that is necessarily given the highest priority, but it is starting to come up quite high on the list for how much damage it does. The police’s advice The police: – Get the name of the person involved and contact the Police Attorney in the Nordland police district, Maria Skog, with these tips if you are first exposed to this type of crime: – Contact your bank. Tell about what has happened. There have been cases where the banks have prevented larger amounts from being entrusted. – Contact the police. Don’t blame yourself for falling into the trap. The fraudsters appear to be trustworthy and are very cunning. Unfortunately, many fall into the trap before you. We are interested in the information you can sit on. This could be the piece we are missing to uncover who is behind this. – We encourage people with grandparents or other elderly in their social circle to tell about this, and about the attempted fraud that has been. Hang up if you are unsure. If the police actually try to get in touch with you, we will continue. – Get your full name and hang up. Tell them to call Nordland police district via the switchboard.
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200,000 scam calls got through – news Nordland
