Fraud has always been, and probably always will be, part of our world. The question is often just what form the fraud comes in. In the last three months of 2023, Telia experienced a tripling in the number of fraud attempts against Norwegian mobile customers. 18 million fraud attempts compared to 6 the previous year. Around half of these, 46 per cent, came from the African country of Zambia. – We saw a threefold increase in fraud calls at the end of the year, and this can largely be seen in connection with shopping holidays such as Black Week and the Christmas shopping, says Øivind Kristiansen, fraud expert at Telia Norge. The figures for the year as a whole, however, are pleasant reading for both Norwegian customers and the company Telia. In total, the company blocked 43.7 million fraudulent calls compared to 76.6 million the previous year. But why the big decline? – That is a very good question, which is not easy to answer. Some of this is due to our own filters, as well as joint measures from the industry and the authorities. But even if we develop new methods and filters, there are large black numbers, and many calls still get through. African country tops the lists In total for 2023, this is the list of countries from which Norwegian mobile users are called. Zambia is on top, and that has surprised Telia. – Yes, you could say that was a little surprising when we saw it. One of the reasons is that they have a number of number series that are going astray, and not so good regulation. These are in turn rented out to actors who want to abuse them. The price for calling Zambia is high, so in that sense it makes sense. The reason why this is relevant is that the so-called “Wangiri method” has become more and more popular. This is a method where someone calls you for maybe one second. When you then call back, it is to a foreign number. This can be very expensive. – The fraudsters can set up a kind of cash machine that calls Norwegian numbers and collects the money. These are professional scammers, and a really intricate ecosystem. – How much money is involved? – Say it costs NOK 10 per minute, and it can be a bit. Someone can arrange for you to hold the line for several hours, and then we are talking large sums, says Kristiansen. Øivind Kristiansen, fraud expert at Telia Norway. Photo: PRESSEFOTO – On a worldwide basis, we are talking about a billion-dollar industry, he adds. Telia estimates that their filters have saved their customers NOK 20 million in invoice costs in 2023 alone. Although Zambia is the country that owns the numbers used in the scam, it is not a given that the scammers are based in this country. The fraud expert does not want to go into what kind of country this applies to. – There are some countries that repeat themselves, I will not go into that more specifically. Norway takes the brunt of the Nordics One detail that is particularly relevant to us in Norway is that Norwegians receive over half, 62 per cent, of the scam calls. 19 per cent went to Sweden, 14 to Finland and only 3 per cent to Denmark. Why is it like that? – It is difficult to say exactly what causes the differences to be so great internally in Scandinavia, but good finances in the population and a high degree of trust in our fellow human beings can probably be part of the explanation why the fraudsters try to such a large extent against Norway, says Kristiansen. Thorbjørn Busch is a fraud expert at the company Telenor. With their customers, the figures are slightly lower. Around 35–40 per cent of fraud calls come to Norway. In recent years, they have seen a decline, and Busch believes this is due to targeted measures. – Wangiri attacks, which previously accounted for a large part of the blocks, are now much fewer because we have implemented measures that have a great effect. When we started blocking such calls five years ago, there could easily have been 9 million calls to Norway in just one day. He says that Telenor has managed to stop the flow of money to these fraudulent calls in 95 per cent of the cases, but they have a goal of stopping 100 per cent. – At the same time, we ensure that those who have had the experience of calling back such missed calls do not suffer damage – by crediting our customers for the incurred costs. Thorbjørn Busch, security advisor at Telenor. Photo: Martin Fjellanger / Telenor There could be an increase in “deep fakes”. Kristiansen explains that if the fraudsters are rejected in Norway, they are also rejected in the rest of the Nordic region. – We have cooperation across national borders which means that if a fraudster is stopped by us in Norway, the number will also be blocked in the whole of the Nordic region. – What kind of fraud methods will we see more of in the future? – If we are to look into the crystal ball, we believe that we will see an increased number of cases of social manipulation and fraud where several types of services are used in one and the same fraud attack to deceive Norwegian consumers, i.e. that people are contacted via both SMS, calls and emails -mail. Attempts at “account takeover” will probably also increase, predicts Kristiansen. He also believes that more intricate forms of fraud may come into play this year. – 2024 could also be the year when deepfake, or falsification of other people’s voices and images, is used more massively with the help of artificial intelligence against Norwegian mobile customers, says Kristiansen. – In other words, there is every reason to be vigilant in the new year as well. Busch in Telenor does not believe that deepfakes will be particularly widespread already this year, but they are looking at the possibilities of using the fraudsters’ own weapons against them. – Telenor is currently looking at the possibilities of using AI to identify fraudulent calls earlier than we are able to today.
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Zambia tops the list of scam calls to Norway – news Nordland
