The case in summary: Per Inge Holmen (68) from Mo i Rana was defrauded of several tens of thousands of kroner after clicking on a fake advertisement in which Magnus Carlsen advertised for investment in cryptocurrency. Holmen was persuaded to invest NOK 30,000 and let the fraudster take over his computer to show how he could keep up with the courses. After two months, he discovered that NOK 12,000 had disappeared from his account, and later the account was emptied of several tens of thousands. In 2023, Norwegian bank customers were attempted to be defrauded of NOK three billion, but the banks managed to stop two of the three billion. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The 68-year-old from Mo i Rana saw an advertisement with the world’s best chess player Magnus Carlsen, who advertised for investing in cryptocurrency. – I have played chess with him once, and followed him for many years. If it had been anyone else, I would have warned myself. But it was Magnus. So then I was deceived. Scored five on Per Inge Holmen, news shows the ad that ended with his account being drained by fraudsters. – It is posted as a news item, where it is revealed how Magnus Carlsen makes money. And then he recommends everyone to invest in crypto. Holmen says that there was nothing in the advertisement that made him think it could be a fraud. – I thought “well, maybe I should try investing in cryptocurrency”. Holmen decided to bet NOK 3,000 and clicked on the ad. He says that he was quickly contacted by the company, which was originally based in Switzerland. – The man who contacted me told me that the money I was willing to invest would be in the account for one year. And then I could follow how much the deposit increased in value. Per-Inge Holmen is looking online for the ad that ended with the account being tapped by fraudsters. Photo: Frank Nygård / news Holmen says that he was persuaded to let the man take over his computer. – He explained that it was easier for him to show me how I could follow the courses and things like that. In the following weeks, Holmen was persuaded to invest another NOK 10,000. And then another 10,000. After two months, he discovered that NOK 12,000 had suddenly evaporated from the account. – At first I wondered how it had happened. After all, I had not gone with any transfer. In retrospect, I realized that he must have gotten into my bank, says Holmen. Holmen came across a fake advertisement that tricked him into investing. Photo: Screenshot He says that when he got in touch, he was told that there was a computer error. – They apologized and said they would sort this out quickly. Then they refunded NOK 8,000 and said they would call me the next day and transfer the remaining NOK 4,000. That didn’t happen, according to Holmen. – Then the account was emptied of several tens of thousands, claims Holmen, who does not want to state the exact amount. Shortly afterwards, he received a call from his bank who told him that they had blocked his account. This after they had discovered that someone had taken advantage of the ID, and large sums were withdrawn from his bank account. TietoEvry, which monitors bank transactions, had a record number of attempted frauds this summer. – We have had an all-time high for several months in a row, says Andre Moen Eide. Photo: Frank Nygård / news 17,000 cases of fraud in July Per Inge Homen is not alone in being defrauded. At TietoEvry’s crime center in Mo i Rana, 70 people sit and monitor 4 billion bank and card transactions a year for banks in the Nordics and Europe. Every day, the company uncovers 500 attempted frauds. This is what the head of the crime center, André Moen Eide, says. – We have had an all-time high for several months in a row. It peaked in July with 17,000 fraud cases. It is a new record. TietoEvry’s statistics show a large increase since January 2023: – Called once a day Per Inge Holmen was exposed to a so-called investment scam. The fraudsters spend a long time building up trust, and are often in contact with the victim in order to obtain as much information as possible about the people to be defrauded. Holmen says that for a period he was called once a day. – He was a nice man. I almost looked forward to the daily phone calls. We also talked about personal things, like family. I went straight for the glue stick, notes Holmen. – Scary According to Andre Moen Eide at Tieto Evry, so far it is possible to stop around 90 to 95 per cent of all fraud attempts. But the fraudsters are also becoming more and more sophisticated. The company detects all types of scams, from crypto to love scams. At Tieto Evry, they have so far managed to stop around 90 to 95 per cent of all fraud attempts, according to themselves. Photo: Frank Nygård / news – What we think is extra frightening is the deep fake technology, where the fraudsters pretend to be someone you know. It’s scary, says Eide. What is “Phishing”? Phishing, in Norwegian also called internet fishing, is a term for digital snooping or “fishing” for sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers. As Hæhre explains, scammers do this by sending fake emails that look like they come from someone you trust. For example, one can do it through “spoofing”, by making a message appear to come from a known sender. So-called phishing, where you have to click on a link, is the most used form of fraud, but also artificial intelligence, and deep fake is being used more and more to obtain personal information and money. – We believe that AI will be used even more frequently by fraudsters and others with malicious intent. We use the same technology to uncover anomalies in large amounts of data. Per-Inge Holmen says it is easy to have hindsight. Today he realizes that he should have understood that the offer was too good to be true. – That shows how stupid I have been. – I went straight for the glue stick, notes Per-Inge Holmen. Photo: Frank Nygård / news And then he is grateful that he got help. – I got a lot of money back from the bank, and I’m happy about that. People should remember that if you have been defrauded, you will get back a lot of what you have lost. Finans Norge: – Defrauded for a billion last year Consumer policy editor Gro Nergård in Finans Norge says that in 2023 Norwegian bank customers were defrauded of NOK 3 billion. That’s quite a lot of money. – Fortunately, the banks are good. They manage to stop two out of NOK 3 billion. But there was still a billion that Norwegian bank customers were defrauded of. Finans Norge has also noticed that the fraudsters are more professional. Consumer policy editor Gro Nergård in Finans Norge says there is good consumer protection in Norway. – This means that fraud victims mostly get their money back. Photo: Kilian Munch – They are great professionals, they are large organizations with many employees. Therefore, they are unfortunately ahead of the mechanisms that the banks and others set up to take them. Of all the phone calls that came into Norway last year, one in four were scam calls that were stopped, says Nergård. If you have been exposed to fraud, it is important not to be embarrassed, says Nergård. – Tell your loved ones and the bank immediately. If it doesn’t happen quickly, their money will be gone and out of the country pretty quickly. We work closely with the police and the telecommunications authorities. Has hired 10 new employees Five years ago, Sparebank 1 Helgeland had half a position working to uncover fraud. Now they have a whole department of 10 people who work to prevent financial crime, money laundering and terrorist financing. – Digital crime is exploding. There has been a doubling in the number of fraud inquiries in the last quarter alone, says Hanne Nordgaard, who is managing director of Sparebank1 Helgeland. – Deepfake is a new way to defraud. Then you steal your number and identity. You get an artificial intelligence robot to imitate voices, says bank manager Hanne Nordgaard. Photo: Frank Nygård / news For the criminals, digital fraud is big business. – We know that this money finances criminal networks, terrorism, and perhaps also states. So we as a society have to be able to handle this, but many Norwegians are a bit naive and the criminals are becoming more and more advanced. – We think very highly of those who contact us. We go fast on both those who want to give us a big return and those who want love. We buy things online that we cannot deliver. And older people go to authority inquiries from the police and the Tax Agency. Fraud is becoming a major societal problem. Fortunately, there is help to be had, according to the bank manager. – The new Financial Agreements Act is very consumer-friendly. If someone has been defrauded, the banks carry out an investigation. If the customer cannot be blamed, we will repay the money that the customer has been defrauded. Published 22.08.2024, at 09.47 Updated 22.08.2024, at 09.53
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Was deceived by false advertising by Magnus Carlsen – news Nordland
