The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board on Monday started investigating two cases of fraud in which victims living in Tallinn lost thousands of euros — in one case the caller posed as an employee of the Internal Security Service (ISS), while in the other the caller claimed to be a police officer.
A 76-year-old woman living in the Lasnamae district of Tallinn received a call from an unknown number. The caller spoke in Russian and claimed to be an employee of the Internal Security Service (ISS), spokespeople for the North Prefecture said.
The caller claimed that the woman’s phone contained a virus that criminals use to steal money from bank accounts. The caller offered the woman the opportunity to install a program on her phone that protects it. After that, some kind of numbers came up on the woman’s phone several times and the caller explained that the protection of the phone was underway.
After that, the woman received a call from an alleged employee of Swedbank’s security department, who informed her that scammers were going to steal money from the account. Finally, the caller announced that everything was fine. A total of 6,023 euros was stolen from the woman’s account.
In another scam, a 62-year-old woman also living in Lasnamae received a call from an unknown number. The caller claimed to be from the Police and Border Guard Board and explained that someone had attempted to take out a loan in the woman’s name. The caller said that they would connect the woman to a bank employee who would provide further guidance. The bank employee asked for her PIN1 and PIN2 codes, which she also provided. A total of 4,120 euros was transferred from the woman’s account.
Source: BNS
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