BB.lv: Clients Lose, Banks Find: Latvian Depositors Make Fraudsters Rich

During the same time, clients of just four local banks (Swedbank, Luminor, SEB and Citadele) lost more than 8 million euros.

Profitable business

The total assets of monetary financial institutions as of 31 May 2024 amounted to EUR 28.248 billion, up 5.4% or EUR 1.44 billion from the end of May 2023, when assets amounted to EUR 26.807 billion.

At the end of May this year, the balance of loans issued by Latvian monetary financial institutions to residents amounted to EUR 13.752 billion, which is 3% more than a year ago. In euros, Latvian financial institutions issued EUR 13.675 billion to residents, which is 3.1% more than a year earlier, and the balance of loans in foreign currency amounted to EUR 77.3 million, which is 14.1% less.

The balance of deposits attracted from residents at the end of May amounted to EUR 18.729 billion, up 5.2% from a year earlier. Of these, deposits in euro amounted to EUR 17.567 billion. Deposits in euro increased by 6.3% compared to the end of May 2023, while deposits in foreign currency decreased by 9.3%.

In the first five months of 2023, financial institutions made a profit of 269.6 million euros, and in 2023 as a whole, monetary financial institutions made a profit of 573.5 million euros, which is 75.8% more than in 2022.

Field of Miracles in the Banking Country

In the first five months of this year, clients of the four largest Latvian banks were defrauded of a total of 8.432 million euros, which is 94.3% more than in the same period last year, according to data from the Finance Latvia Association.

There were 4,195 fraud cases in the first five months of 2024, up 55.3% from the first five months of 2023.

This includes 2,448 cases of telephone fraud worth 5,194,337 euros, 1,376 cases of investment fraud worth 2,334,181 euros and 371 cases of other types of fraud worth 903,964 euros.

Compared with the first five months of 2023, the number of cases of telephone fraud this year has increased by 2.7 times, and the amount of fraud has increased by 3.3 times.

In May, the number of cases of financial fraud decreased significantly. Thus, in May, 25% fewer telephone frauds and 10% fewer investment frauds were recorded than in April. This is explained by the increased cooperation between the financial sector, mobile operators and security agencies.

However, despite efforts by various parties to prevent the fraud, criminals managed to steal more than 1 million euros when people voluntarily handed over their data to them.

It has already been reported that last year, customers of the four largest Latvian banks, having personally confirmed payments, were defrauded of a total of 12.662 million euros, which is 5.2% more than in 2022.