Scam wave in Oslo – 24 elderly people attempted fraud in September

In September alone, 24 elderly people are said to have been defrauded by people who visited them at home, the Oslo police inform NRK.

The criminals have been linked and revealed by teledata and video surveillance, according to the police. In the last month, many of them have spent large sums on gold watches, restaurant visits and various types of electronics.

In September, six people were arrested and charged with the frauds in Oslo.

Drastic increase

The method is called Safehouse scams. Scammers call in advance, pretending to be an authority and warn that someone is trying to scam them. Later, they travel to the victim’s home and pretend to be the police. The victims are then told that they are sitting on confidential information and must not contact anyone else. The fraudsters then take control of the victim’s bank accounts and drain them of money.

In June, nationally so far this year, 20 such home visit cases were discovered in DNB. The number has now increased to 49, DNB states in a press release on Tuesday. 17 of them have happened in the last four weeks.

– This is a drastic increase. Unfortunately, there is nothing to suggest that the numbers are leveling off, rather the opposite, says Sebastian Takle, head of DNB’s Cyber ​​Crime Centre.

Was abducted to Dubai

On Monday, it became known that three women in Oslo were subjected to such frauds. Among them was a woman in her 80s who had been defrauded of over NOK 100,000.

It is not only the increase in the number of cases that worries DNB, but also an escalation in how far the criminals are willing to go in such cases. Before the summer, an elderly lady from Asker was abducted to Dubai for two weeks and defrauded for several million kroner.

So far this year, NOK 20 million has been attempted to be defrauded from DNB customers in such home visit cases. The bank has stopped around 10 million of these kroner.

Takle believes the number will continue to grow rapidly and points to Sweden, where the method is far more widespread.

– They are cynical and collect money where the fence is lowest. Vulnerable groups such as older women are particularly at risk, says Takle.