– The thugs will always be a little bit ahead of us. Our aim is that this lead should not get any bigger, says Marit Sola, security manager at SpareBank 1 SR-Bank. Last week, news wrote about a 78-year-old woman from Arendal who was tricked into using her phone by what she thought were the police. During the eight-hour long telephone conversation, she shared her BankID several times, and was defrauded of NOK 700,000. Both banks and the police are now working on several new measures to catch up with the fraudsters’ lead. Establishes fraud center Professional fraudsters have developed into a socio-political problem, says head of Økokrim Pål Lønseth. – We have to step up our efforts against this type of fraud a notch. Økokrim is now working to start a fraud centre, where the focus will be on prevention and more investigation. Lønseth encourages the banks to continue reporting the cases to Økokrim through the money laundering regulations that are in place today. – I hope we can achieve a close, and perhaps slightly non-traditional collaboration through the fraud center when it is established. Head of Økokrim, Pål Løseth, wants more fraudsters to be investigated and convicted. Photo: Hans-Olav Landsverk Easier to be deceived Consumer policy director at Finans Norge Gry Nergård understands that people allow themselves to be deceived. – Unfortunately, there are trends among fraudsters. The trend we see now is that you call the victims and get them scared enough that they cooperate. The banks’ statistics show that the majority who are defrauded are older people. Nergård believes digital banks are difficult for many in this age group. – Actually, these frauds that are happening now are a gigantic bank robbery. Before, criminals physically entered the banks and threatened employees for money. Now it is via the customers, says Nergård. – As customers, we give the robbers the key to the bank, and then they empty the accounts. We are happy that the police will prioritize this. Nergård says they are dependent on the police handling more cases. – Only the police can obtain some of the information that is necessary to do something about the cases. Nergård believes that the more cases that are investigated, the more preventive effect it has. – Today you can make a lot of money from this. The risk is very low and the gain very high, she says. Gry Nergård is director of consumer policy at Finans Norge. They want to enter into a dialogue with the police to see what measures they can initiate together. Photo: Kari Nygard Tvilde / news Increased focus on online fraud After the case of the Arendal woman, news has received several inquiries from people who have been defrauded or attempted to be defrauded. Marit Sola in SpareBank 1 SR-Bank works daily to stop fraud and says that fraudsters have become experts at manipulating. – Anyone could fall for such a scam. Therefore, we cannot say enough about never giving out your BankID or password. Sola says that most banks are beefing up their security departments following an increase in online fraud. – There is absolutely a focus on this now. We have systems that monitor unnatural movement in the online banks. As soon as something is discovered, the customer’s accounts are closed and the bank makes contact. If you have fallen into a trap, Sola encourages you to call the bank immediately. – The sooner we are notified, the sooner we can stop the money.
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Police and banks gear up against online fraud – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
