The case in summary: A man in his 30s defrauded 30 people for a total of NOK 130,000 online by selling expensive mobile phones, concert tickets and computer equipment that were never delivered. The man made excuses and claimed, among other things, that he himself had been deceived, but the money was never returned. The man admitted to all the frauds. Finn.no encourages users to be skeptical and never give out sensitive information. Finn.no also encourages users to use their service “Fiks, findig” for secure trading. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Expensive mobile phones, concert tickets and computer equipment at a good price should tempt people to bite the adverts on the internet. But the goods never arrived. The complaints against the man who sold goods he did not have started to tick in with the police in Telemark. – It was all just some hesitation, sums up Nikolai, one of the fraud victims, to news. Nikolai does not want to come forward with his full name in the case that he is one of those who have been deceived by the fraudster, but news knows his identity. When he saw an iPhone 13 for NOK 6,500 on Finn.no, he jumped at the chance. Nikolai paid and agreed to have the mobile phone sent by post. But in the package was something a little different. NNikolai: Why did you send me an Apple Pencil?Seller: Hello. Father that is! Sent 13 packages at once. This was not meant for you. Calling the post office to find out what happened. In the following days and weeks there was communication back and forth. news has seen clips from the conversation log between Nikolai and the seller – both on SMS and on Finn. – It was excuse after excuse. Among other things, that she, who was sent my phone by mistake, was at the cabin with her son and blah, blah, blah, says Nikolai. The man in his 30s hinted that he himself had been deceived. Seller: I don’t know if she’s scamming me or what’s really going on, but if she doesn’t send the package on Monday, I’ll report the lady. Also sends you the money back if nothing else happens. Does that sound OK? NNikolai: It sounds fine to me. The excuses continued. – He was supposed to get paid first, later he said he had changed banks. And when he asked about my account number, he claimed that the money was withdrawn from his account, but it took time due to a bank switch. The money never came. A month and a half after Nikolai tipped the man money, the cup was full. NNikolai: There’s no point in settling for yourself if what you’re doing is fraud. No excuse good enough to satisfy me or any other victim. It doesn’t surprise me if you have a large number of reviews against you. You can’t escape, so to speak. SSeller: I can contact you if you want to come up with a solution? Conceded everything When the cases had been discussed, it had also been hard on concert goers. The man sold tickets to several festivals and concerts, but the tickets never arrived. A total of 30 people had fallen victim to the fraud, for a total amount of almost NOK 130,000. In the Telemark district court, the man admitted all the frauds. Now he must sit in prison for four months and pay back the money. The man’s lawyer believed that the sentence should be reduced because he confessed, and because he has a reduced understanding of reality due to problems with gambling. Increase in fraud cases So far this year, Sør-East Police District has already surpassed the number of online fraud cases compared to 2022. – So we can certainly say that there has been an increase, says Mads Holmern, who is responsible for the Nettpatruljen in Sør-East Police District. They often receive reviews from people who have been defrauded on Finn.no, Facebook market place and Tise, but Holmgren believes that there are also many who do not report. – Often it is about “small” sums and many feel that these cases will be dismissed. It’s a real shame, because then we don’t get an overall picture of how big the problem is. FINN: You can do this Finn.no believes it is difficult to guarantee that the platform will be free of fraud or attempted fraud. Up to 300,000 advertisements are posted on FINN-torget a week. The vast majority of trades go well, says Finn. – Fraud can occur in many forms and how to avoid being defrauded is something we try to inform as much as we can, says Ingunn Isefjær Huus-Hansen, head of prevention at FINN. TIP: Ingunn Isefjær Huus-Hansen at Finn.no believes there are several things you can do to avoid being scammed. Photo: Photographer Caroline Roka She lists several things that are important to think about when you buy something at Finn: Use “fixed, finished” – Where you can complete the transaction with payment and shipping, the buyer pays with Vipps and the seller only gets the money when the item has arrived and been checked by the buyer. Check BankID – If an offer sounds too good to be true, it often is. A good tip is to check whether the user has been verified with BankID, how long the person has been a Finn user and what kind of ratings they have received, says Huus-Hansen. Be skeptical – Never give out your credit card number, social security number, login information or other sensitive information to strangers. She also encourages not to take the dialogue with the buyer or seller outside of Finn or to click on links that forward you to other websites.
ttn-69
– There was excuse after excuse – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
