Fraud against senior citizens are increasing rapidly. During 2021 an amount of 4309 authorisation frauds against elderly were reported. Up until August this year the amount of reports are already reaching 5312 authorisation frauds, an increase of 23 % compared to the whole of 2021.

The most common type of crime is that elderly people are called by fraudsters, so called Vishing (telephone fraud). One calls the intended victim and tries to trick access to their home, login details or other sensitive information in order to empty accounts, or by pretending to be, for example, police personnel, healthcare personnel or bank clerks.

The Theft Protection Association (SSF) is announcing right now that a common approach is to be called by a computerised voice claiming to be from the Swedish Police and saying that there is something wrong with one’s national ID card.

How to Protect Yourself and be Prepared

On SSF’s website säkerhetskollen.se, you can keep up-to-date on the latest frauds and various terms and concepts that can be useful to know.

Soon, the Freja app will also display current fraud alerts from Säkerhetskollen – a simple and quick way to stay up-to-date.

Tips to Reduce the Risk of Being Scammed

  • Never give personal information, passwords or codes to others at their request
  • Never log in with BankID or Freja eID at the request of someone else
  • Make a call back to the bank, police or healthcare if you are not sure who you are talking to
  • Immediately contact the bank if you suspect that you have been cheated out of your bank details
  • Request identification if you are unsure about visitors
  • Always report to the police if you feel that someone has called and tried to deceive you

Help to Spread the Word

If you have a relative or acquaintance who is at risk of being exposed to fraud, take the time to tell them about the tips above. Being vigilant when someone calls unexpectedly means that the individual can feel safe in hanging up the phone and making a call back. The absolute best protection against fraud is knowledge.

ID Protection with Freja eID+

With Freja eID+, Freja monitors the civil registration address and notifies if someone changes it without authorisation, or creates a so-called special postal address. A simple way to get additional information free of charge.

Freja’s ID protection is automatically activated when you acquire the Freja eID+ security level and this is completely free of charge for you as a user.

A tip could also be to log in to the Tax Agency and add a block to your civil registration address. This means that an e-ID is required when the address is to be changed. You can also use Freja eID+ to log in to the Tax Agency.