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Police Warning: Scammers Switching to Estonian Language

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Photo: Police Warning: Scammers Switching to Estonian Language. Source: Collage The Gaze
Photo: Police Warning: Scammers Switching to Estonian Language. Source: Collage The Gaze

In recent days, over a dozen people have reported receiving fraudulent calls to the police, with the criminals speaking in Estonian. So far, there have been no victims of these schemes, according to the police.

Estonian Police reported this.

The scamming pattern resembles ones used before. The caller poses as a police officer, bank representative, or another trustworthy organization, aiming to gain the victim's confidence. They claim there is a problem with the person's bank account or that their personal information is being used for criminal activities. Previously, these calls were made in Russian or English, but now the scammers are conversing in Estonian, and their proficiency in the language is surprisingly good.

For instance, during one call, the fraudster pretended to be a police officer, alerting the recipient that a criminal was attempting to withdraw money from their account. Initially, the conversation was conducted in Russian, but when the vigilant recipient asked to switch to Estonian, the call was redirected to someone else, and the conversation continued in Estonian.

The head of the Criminal Bureau at Põhja prefektuur, Urmet Tambre, stated that speaking in Estonian no longer provides protection against scammers during phone calls. Criminals are employing this tactic to gain trust and extract money or personal information from people. "It is too early to determine if the scammers are operating within Estonia or if we are dealing with Estonian-speaking individuals living abroad who, for some reason, are assisting the criminals. We are doing everything possible to identify and stop these fraudsters," added Tambre.

The head of the Criminal Bureau confirmed that the Estonian police do not call people to report suspicious bank account activities. "We do not have access to people's bank account information and cannot issue any warnings about the status of their funds. I would like to thank everyone who promptly recognizes fraudulent calls and reports them to the police. The information that these calls are now being conducted in Estonian is crucial for us. Thanks to such reports, we can immediately launch investigations to identify the culprits and warn other residents of Estonia about the danger," stated the police official.

To protect oneself from scammers, it is advisable to:

  1. Hang up immediately when someone reports suspicious activity related to your bank account.
  2. Never share personal information, including PIN1 and PIN2 passwords for Smart-ID, Mobile-ID, or ID cards, and do not enter these passwords on your device at the request of unknown callers.

As previously reported by The Gaze, Estonia has developed a legal scheme for using frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine. The procedure ensures that the frozen assets of Russian oligarchs will be put to work in advance to support Ukraine's recovery.

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