People in Finland lost more than 84 million euros to online scams last year, according to Traficom, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency.
It said last year's figure reflected a 70 percent increase compared to 2023. The agency based its figures on criminal reports filed with police.
Fraudsters stole more than half a million euros from victims in Finland in October 2024 alone, Traficom reported at the time.
According to Traficom's National Cyber Security Centre, more than 14,000 phishing messages were sent to people last year, with most of the messages purporting to be sent from banks or authorities.
"There are a lot of phishing messages circulating, and everyone should be vigilant. Criminals are known to use the logos and names of well-known entities to make their messages seem more credible," Sanna Autio, a data security expert at the agency, said in a press release.
Phishing schemes involve scammers trying to convince victims to follow links to websites where the criminals fish — or "phish" — their prospective victims for personal information including bank, credit card or other personal details.
How to avoid scams
The Cyber Security Centre has shared ways to avoid falling victim to online and text message-based scams.
It noted that banks and government agencies never ask people for their personal information or passwords over the phone or by email. The centre said people should never share information that could be misused — unless they are certain about who they are sharing it with.
Phishing messages often have incorrect spellings, unusual language or links that do not precisely match the agencies or banks they claim to be coming from. The centre advised people to scrutinise the language and other terms in messages. It also advised people not to click on suspicious links.
Scammers usually try to deceive victims into taking swift action telling them the matter in question needs urgent attention. The Cyber Security Centre said people should not fall for those tricks. Instead, they should end the conversation and reach out to the bank or authority in question directly using their official phone number.
Additionally, when seeking contact information to banks or authorities, it is a good idea to use care when using search engines, because there may be bogus links put out there to trick people. Instead, people should type the website addresses directly into their web browsers or use an official mobile app, if there is one.
The Cyber Security Centre also advised people to make sure the websites they visit are not fakes by double checking the web addresses in their browsers.
